Mexican Festivals and Celebrations

Cinco de Mayo (translated "May 5th") celebrates a very proud moment in Mexican military history. However it is a holiday, celebrated more throughout the United States, than it is in Mexico.

On May 5, 1862, in the state of Puebla de los Angeles , about 100 miles east of Mexico City, heavily outnumbered Mexican soldiers preserved the democratically elected government of President Benito Juarez against an invading French army.

The victory was a great source of national pride for the fledgling democracy of Mexico.

El Grito de Dolores is Mexican Independence Day.

Every 16th of September, Mexico celebrates the day that Father Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest in the small central Mexican town of Dolores, rang the bell of his church and called everyone to fight for liberty against Spanish rule.

The Independence War, lasted for 10 years. Today, the story is re-enacted in every "zocalo", or plaza, in Mexico.

Flags wave from every structure. Lighted decorations are put up, and people of all ages join in Mexico's biggest fiesta.

In December of 1531. A recently converted Indian, Juan Diego, was traveling over Tepeyac Hill-the former site of an Aztec shrine to the goddess Tonantzin-outside of Mexico City.

When Juan Diego reported to the local bishop that he had seen the mother of the Christian God on Tepeyac Hill and she addressed him in his native language and asked that a shrine be built for her at the site, Church officials were skeptical.

Bishop Zumarraga asked the elderly Aztec to bring a sign of the apparition. Three days later, Juan Diego returned to the bishop and released a bundle of roses from his cloak, on which a colorful image of the Virgin Mary appeared. Stunned by the image and the abundance of roses in the middle of December, the bishop ordered that a shrine be erected.

In 1859 her feast day, December 12, became a Mexican national holiday.

Las Posadas, meaning the "shelter", commemorates the events in the journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It begins on the 16th of December and continues continues through January 6.

After dark, each night of the "Posada," a procession begins, led by two children. The children carry a small pine-decorated platform bearing replicas of Joseph and Mary riding a burro. Others carry candles, paper lanterns and banners as they proceed from house to house in search of a place to stay. At each residence along the procession route they are refused shelter, until at last, they are welcomed in at the last home. They then celebrate with prayers, food and a "pinata" for the children.