Civic Celebrations

The civic parties are celebrated in the cities and in almost all the towns. The most important dates are: February 5 (the Constitution of 1917 is commemorated), March 21 (birthday of Benito Juárez), May 5 (anniversary of the Battle of Puebla 1862), 15 and 16 of September (beginning of the independence of Mexico), and November 20 (beginning of the Mexican Revolution).

The celebrations in citizens always participate in huge concentrations are those of September. The 15, at eleven in the night, the President of the Republic, the governors of the states and the municipal presidents give the "Grito de Dolores" (Dolores' Scream) and they ring a bell that symbolizes announcement in 1810 to start the the fight for the independence of the country.

In Puebla, in the Peñon of Mexico City, in the surroundings of Texcoco and in several towns people represent the 5th of May a simulation of the famous battle against the French that it is prolonged until the night and it comes to an end wiht the assault to the fortress.

Blessing of the animals & seeds

It is a rite that takes place in almost the whole country; the most usual date is January 17, day of San Antonio Abbot, protector of the animals. In Mexico City people, mainly the children, converge in the atrium of their parish taking their domestic animals, from canaries to dogs. In the Federal District the blessing is imparted in the afternoon: lambs, calves, bulls, horses, roosters, guajolotes the owners have adorned them with paper. In other regions like the valley of Toluca, the celebration is carried out the day of San Isidro Labrador. The yokes of oxen are always beautified with tapes or with flowers of red paper and the yokes sustain big mosaics made with all kinds of seeds.

Carnival

In the coasts they take place the most sumptuous carnivals. In several ports of the Pacific, and others of the Gulf, also in the Peninsula of Yucatan, with Campeche and Merida, where the carnival is still celebrated with enthusiasm. Each town, even the smallest, organizes their parties: allegorical cars, parade of processions, flowers, confetti and egg shells; traditional dances and food everywhere.

The indigenous towns of the country celebrate carnivals different from the accustomed ones. As all the ethnic parties in that the religious thing mixes with the pagan thing, the carnival is at the same time amusement and rite.

There are parts in that a puppet that symbolizes the carnival is burnt and that means the beginning of the New Year; there are others in which the meaning is to enter clean in a new season and to leave all the sludges behind, the natives jump above a fire barrier made burning with hay.

Holy Week

The Ceremonies begin the Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) with the sale, in front of the churches, of crisscross palm leaves with fantasy and good taste. The important rites are developed on Friday: images - richly adorned - carried by a group of people, women with candels and flowers, and songs by all the people that seize candles.

In the indigenous towns the acts are, frequently, a singular and touching mixture of the beliefs of centuries ago and the current religion.

There is the burning of Judas or of Juan Carnival that has the meaning to clean with the fire the past and to begin the New Year that begins with the spring for any peasant, when the nature is renewed and they get ready to sow.

Día de Muertos

On November the first the souls of the deceased children return to their houses , and the following day those of the adults; they can't miss none of them food that they liked more in life. They are bought all class goodies, fruit, chocolate, the atole and the appreciated dishes. In the domestic altars they get ready with natural and paper flowers, the dishes and the candles are placed, bread of dead, pictures, clothes. In many communities people form a path of cempasúchil petals (flower of the dead), from the street to the altar so the souls can find their way.

In the northwest of the State of Mexico and in Michoacan, besides offering food, the families make objects of sugar with that represent the dear objects or wanted by the deceased one: hats and boots, bulls and horses, seats and furniture, and even cars and trucks.

Mainly in Mexico City, they model with sugar colored skulls in whose front the names are written of who will eat them; for their varied sizes and colors they end up being authentic pieces of art.

Day of Virgin Guadalupe

In almost the whole country Our Señora de Guadalupe, the Virgin, is honored on December 12, we she appeared on the hill of the Tepeyac, where the mexicas worshipped Tonatzin, mother of the gods

In the capital of the Republic, the daily pilgrimages begin before one month: the faithful ones meet with banners, magnificent floral offerings and sometimes with dancers. In the Glorieta of Peralvillo it is where the pilgrimage of several kilometers begins.

In many towns, big and small, young people get organized to complete one anual promise to the virgin. They join money to travel on truck certain distance, taking turns carrying a fire torch while running to their destination. You can see men and women running by the highways of Mexico days before December 12 to arrive to their destination.

Posadas

This novenary that precedes Christmas only takes place in Mexico and in some Latin American nations; it seems that the evangelizing friars of the conquest substituted a mexica celebration - in which they worshipped Huitzilopochtli - for a Christian party with a new meaning.

It begins December 16 and it ends the night of the 24th with the birth of Jesus. It is not always carried out in the same way, although in any event the participants, be rural or people of the city, sing the litanies as much in the churches as in the houses. The tunes and the wording change depending on the region.

The Posadas more full with emotion are the ones of small villages. After the accustomed prayers, a part of participants goes out in procession with candles and flowers, taking in images of Mary and Joseph. When they return, they find that they have closed the hall door of the church; they request "Posada" (lodging) singing and from inside they are refused. The hall door finally opens up and the Pilgrim Saints receive lodging.

After requesting Posada, the piñata is hung in the atrium of the church or the patio of a house: they are hanged with a rope; children and adults take turns with a stick and blindfolded eyes try to hit to the piñata and break it. When that is achieved the content of the piñata sweets and season fruits flies around.

Charreadas, Bull & Roster Fighting

Ecoturismolatino by principles opposes to this type of "Parties" - public shows, but we cannot deny its existence and its popularity.

In the Mexico City as in the capitals of all the states, passionate people's associations for the horsemanship, maintain alive the "Fiesta Charra"; this is practiced on open spaces in the countryside or in the squares of rodeos. The rustic jaripeos also continues, especially in the north of Mexico.

Very popular are also the Palenques where rooster fighting takes place; in the towns that get permission so that the assisting people can bet, alot of money is won and lost.

Funfairs, Amusements & Markets

There is not a town, even the smallest, where the funfair doesn't arrive: carrousels, flying seats, revolvable platforms and joyrides.

Every funfair also goes accompanied by simple amusements as: the lottery, tables with roulettes, shot to the target, carps of marionettes, labyrinths of mirrors, fortune-tellers, circuses, etc.

Each party is also a market, where people acquire objects with a festival content or as a souvenir. The Mexican markets are the most colorful in the world; where they combine scents, colors, variety of goods and noises between salespersons' screams and sale of cassettes or compact disks.

Fireworks, Toritos, Rockets & Gunpowder

Another element of the Mexican parties is the fireworks. Those in charge of the parties commend the work to some specialized artisans. In occasions these coheteros (fireworkers) already arrive from their towns with the girándulas (firework structures) made, other times they make them in the place; when they are indigenous, the music accompanies during the whole time the work of the coheteros.

The "Toritos" (bulls of lights), are made of wicker or of sticks and covered with mat or with skin of an animal. A man places the frame on his head and runs, while girándulas and rockets distributed on the Torito explode.

Besides adding to the nights new and shooting stars to the sky, the rockets also explode in the day, because it is the noise and the ascension what counts. During the processions on daylight if the one in charge doesn't light them, the rockets, with a cigarette a companion will go with him taking an wood ember lighting the wick and making the rockets fly with a buzz and an explosion at the end.

Ritual Dances

Among the rites of the Ancient Mexico, dances were the most important. Many of the movements and steps are from centuries; also the current attires are transformations of the old ones.

The rite has not changed and it is still a pleasant sacrifice in honor to the divinity. What is conserved of the attires of the past are the deer skins and of other animals, the showy feathers, the rattles and the buds of butterflies, and also the mirrors that before were refined stones.

Traditional Dances

Besides the ritual dances that are carried out during the parties, Mexico is rich in traditional dances, almost all are adaptations of old European dances.

The Jarabe Tapatío, known in the entire world as the national dance of Mexico; the woman gets dressed as "china poblana" (type of dress) and the man of charro, and both execute tap-danced movements.

The "jaranas", where the couples execute different tap-danced steps that are alternated with softer steps. In the cities of Campeche and Yucatan, the ladies dance adorned with their triplet of white artisela, embroidery and adorned with fittings; in the towns the women dress with the mestizo yucateca suit, of embroidered blanket.

The huapangos in Veracruz, Tamaulipas and the Huasteca potosina, have intricate steps with which the women as the men impress the public. The songs in falsetto, of origin huasteca, and the music of harps and requintos give a very peculiar atmosphere.

We could also speak of more dances such as: the Sandunga, the Chiapanecas, the Chilenas and the Canacua, all movements and color that accompany all Mexican Party.