Christmas in Mexico

Mexico’s Christmas traditions are based on Mexico’s form of Roman Catholicism and popular culture traditions also called posadas. Over nine days, groups of townspeople go from door to door in a fashion reminiscent of when the parents of unborn baby Jesus looked for shelter to pass the night when they arrived at Bethlehem, and are periodically called inside homes to participate in the breaking of a gift-filled piñata.

Mexican Christmas is not influenced by American Christmas since it is filled with over 30 traditions found only within Mexican Christmas.

In many Mexican places, children receive gifts not on Christmas but on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, when, according to tradition, the Three Wise Men bring gifts not only to baby Jesus but also to children who have placed written requests in their shoes.

At midnight on Christmas, millions of families place the figure of baby Jesus in their nacimientos (Nativity scenes), as the symbolic representation of Christmas as a whole.

Mexican Christmas festivities start on December 12, with the birthday of La Guadalupana (Virgin of Guadalupe), and end on January 6, with the Epiphany. Children usually do not attend school on this date; and, when they go to their rooms, they find not only the toys but also that the Three Magic Kings have appeared at El Nacimiento.

Since the 1990s, Mexican society has embraced a new concept linking several celebrations around Christmastime into what is known as the Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon.

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