Mexican Holidays and Festivals: A Month-by-Month Calendar

Mexican holidays at a glance

Mexico's calendar mixes three kinds of dates. Federal law sets a short list of public holidays with a paid day off. A longer list of civic days is marked with flags, ceremonies and school events but no day off. And the religious and family celebrations, from Three Kings Day in January to the posadas before Christmas, are the ones that fill streets and markets.

For a traveler, the difference matters. An official holiday closes banks and government offices, while a religious feast can pack a town square, a cemetery or a highway without closing much at all.

This guide walks through Mexican holidays month by month, then lists every date for 2026 and 2027, the festivals worth building a trip around and what each kind of holiday means for bookings and closures. If you are still choosing when to go, read our guide to the best time to visit Mexico alongside it, and for the wider picture see the Mexico travel overview.

Holidays in Mexico: official days off versus celebrations

Holidays in Mexico fall into three groups, and only the first gives workers a day off by law.

• Statutory holidays (días de descanso obligatorio): seven fixed dates each year under the Federal Labor Law, plus October 1 once every six years when a new president takes office, and federal election days.
• Civic holidays: national dates such as Flag Day on February 24 or Cinco de Mayo, marked with ceremonies but not a day off, except where a state decides otherwise.
• Festivities: religious and cultural celebrations, including Holy Week, Day of the Dead, the Virgin of Guadalupe and the posadas. None of these is a statutory holiday, yet some of them close more businesses than the official days do.

Mexico holidays that move are the ones tied to a Monday or to Easter. Constitution Day falls on the first Monday of February, Benito Juárez's Birthday on the third Monday of March and Revolution Day on the third Monday of November. Holy Week follows Easter, so it lands in March or April.

The Mexican days that shape a trip

Some Mexican days change a trip more than others. These are the ones that shape prices, crowds and opening hours.

• Holy Week (Semana Santa): government offices, schools and many businesses close on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and families head for the beach. Expect full buses, busy resorts and higher room rates.
• Independence night, September 15: town squares fill for the Grito, and Mexico City's Zócalo is packed.
• Day of the Dead, November 1 and 2: cemeteries, markets and the towns known for their celebrations get very busy, especially Oaxaca and Pátzcuaro.
• December 12 to January 6: the Virgin of Guadalupe, the posadas, Christmas, New Year and Three Kings Day run together into Mexico's longest holiday season.
• Long weekends (puentes): the three Monday holidays, plus any bridge day Mexicans add around a holiday, send families out of the cities.

The main holidays in Mexico, ranked for travelers

What are the main holidays in Mexico? Ranked by how much they affect a visitor, the main ones are:

1. Independence Day (September 15 and 16), the most important patriotic holiday, with the Grito on the night of the 15th and parades on the 16th.
2. Day of the Dead (November 1 and 2), the most famous celebration abroad, with altars, marigolds and cemetery vigils.
3. Holy Week (March or April), the biggest domestic travel week of the year.
4. Christmas season (December 12 to January 6), with the Guadalupe pilgrimage, the posadas, Nochebuena and Three Kings Day.
5. The Monday holidays in February, March and November, which create long weekends.

Cinco de Mayo is missing from the list on purpose. It is far bigger in the United States than in Mexico.

Mexican holidays month by month

Mexican holidays in September, November and December draw the most searches, but every month has something. Here is the year in order, with the official public holidays in bold.

A few of these need context. Cinco de Mayo marks the Mexican army's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It is a civic holiday and a public holiday only in the state of Puebla, where you will find parades and a reenactment of the battle, and it is celebrated far more in the United States. Mother's Day is always May 10, whatever the weekday, and restaurants are often full.

Carnival runs from the Thursday to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and the largest celebrations are in Mazatlán and Veracruz. Mexico holidays cinco de mayo searches usually come from the US, and the answer is short: it is a regional celebration, not Independence Day.

Mexico October holidays: Cervantino and the build-up to Day of the Dead

Mexico October holidays are mostly civic and cultural. October 12 is the Day of the Pluricultural Nation, the date the United States marks as Columbus Day, and in Mexico it recognizes the many cultures and languages that coexist in the country. It is not a day off.

The bigger draw for travelers is the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, held each autumn and named after Miguel de Cervantes. It fills the city with theater, music, folk ballet and street performance, and rooms book up well ahead. Check the program for the year you travel, since dates change.

By the last week of October, markets across the country fill with marigolds, sugar skulls and pan de muerto as families get ready for the Day of the Dead. September holidays in Mexico end with Independence Day, so October is a quieter month for public holidays and a good one for traveling.

The Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, November 1 and 2

The Mexican holiday Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 and 2. Families build altars (ofrendas) with photographs, candles, marigolds and the favorite food and drink of the people they remember, and many spend the night in cemeteries decorating graves. It is not a statutory holiday, although many offices give time off.

Oaxaca, Pátzcuaro and Mexico City hold some of the best-known celebrations, and all three get very busy. Book early if your dates cross November 1. Visitors are welcome, but a cemetery vigil is a family occasion: keep your distance, ask before taking photos and never touch an altar or its offerings.

For dates, parades and the towns worth traveling to, see our guide to Day of the Dead in Mexico. The other Mexico November holidays date is Revolution Day, which commemorates the start of the 1910 Mexican Revolution and is observed on the third Monday of November, creating a long weekend.

What Mexico celebrates in September: the Grito and Independence Day

What is Mexico celebrating in September? Independence. On the evening of September 15, the president rings the bell of Miguel Hidalgo and gives the Grito from the National Palace to crowds in Mexico City's Zócalo, shouting "¡Viva México!". Similar ceremonies take place in every state and town. September 16, Independence Day, is a statutory holiday, and Mexico City holds a military parade that morning.

The date marks Hidalgo's call to revolt against Spanish rule in the town of Dolores in 1810, not the end of the war. Families gather for a Noche Mexicana with pozole and other traditional dishes, and streets, buildings and cars are decorated in green, white and red for most of the month.

September 13, Boy Heroes Day, honors the cadets who died defending Chapultepec Castle in 1847. It is a civic holiday, not a day off. If you want to see the Grito in person, plan to arrive at the Zócalo early and travel light.

Mexican holidays and traditions: how the country celebrates

Mexican holidays and traditions blend Catholic feasts with pre-Hispanic customs and family rituals. Most of the calendar's color comes from food, processions, music and fireworks rather than from the official days off.

How to celebrate Mexico holidays: fireworks, processions and family meals

The easiest way to celebrate Mexico holidays as a visitor is to be in a town square at the right hour. Fireworks, brass bands and dancing mark patron saint festivals, Independence night and New Year's Eve, when Mexico City's Zócalo hosts a large street celebration.

Most towns also have a patron saint, and its feast day brings a week of fairs, rides, dances and fireworks that no national calendar lists. If you arrive to find a plaza full of stalls and a band tuning up, you have probably found one. Join in, keep an eye on the fireworks, and ask a stallholder which saint is being celebrated.

Processions carry statues of saints and of the Virgin through the streets on feast days, and during Holy Week many towns stage passion plays. Mexican celebrations at home center on long family meals, and at New Year many Mexicans eat twelve grapes at midnight, one for each chime, making a wish with each.

Mexican traditional celebrations: religious and civic

Mexican traditional celebrations follow the church year. Three Kings Day on January 6 is when children traditionally receive gifts and families share rosca de reyes, a ring-shaped sweet bread with a small figure of the baby Jesus hidden inside. Whoever finds it hosts a tamale meal on February 2, Candelaria.

The Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12 draws pilgrims to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and to churches across the country. The posadas, from December 16 to 24, reenact Joseph and Mary's search for shelter with candlelit processions, songs and piñatas. On December 28, Holy Innocents Day, people play practical jokes on each other, much like April Fools' Day.

Civic traditions are quieter: flag ceremonies on February 24, school events and parades on Revolution Day and Independence Day.

Mexican holiday food, dish by dish

Mexican holiday food changes through the year, and it is one of the best reasons to travel on a holiday.

• Rosca de reyes on Three Kings Day, with hot chocolate.
• Tamales and atole on Candelaria, February 2.
• Pozole and other dishes in the national colors on Independence night.
• Pan de muerto and sugar skulls in the weeks before Day of the Dead.
• Buñuelos, tamales and ponche during the posadas and on Nochebuena, when many families eat their main Christmas meal late on December 24.

Markets are the best place to find them. Our guide to Mexican street food covers what to order and where.

Mexico holidays 2026 and 2027: every date

These are the Mexico holidays 2026 and 2027 dates, worked out from the statutory rules. Official public holidays are in bold; the other dates are observances that do not close banks by law. Holy Week follows Easter, which falls on April 5 in 2026 and March 28 in 2027.

Two more statutory dates come and go with elections. Federal election days are public holidays, and 2027 is a federal election year, so check the date nearer the time. October 1 is a holiday once every six years, when a new president takes office; the next one is in 2030.

The weekday matters more than the date. In 2026, Independence Day falls on a Wednesday, so there is no long weekend around it, while Labor Day and Christmas fall on Fridays and do create one. In 2027, Labor Day and Christmas land on Saturdays, so they take no working day at all.

Looking for a holiday in Mexico today? Match today's date against the table: if it is one of the dates in bold, banks and government offices are closed.

Festivals in Mexico worth planning a trip around

Festivals in Mexico run all year, and a few are worth building a trip around. These are the big cultural ones, not music-festival lineups.

• The Guelaguetza, Oaxaca City (July): held on the two Mondays after July 16, it brings dancers and musicians from Oaxaca's Indigenous communities to an open-air auditorium on the Cerro del Fortín, for which you need tickets. The celebrations spill into the streets around it.
• Carnival, Mazatlán and Veracruz (February or March): the biggest Carnival celebrations in Mexico, with parades, floats and music in the days before Lent.
• Festival Internacional Cervantino, Guanajuato (autumn): theater, music and dance across the city's plazas, churches and streets.
• Day of the Dead, Oaxaca, Pátzcuaro and Mexico City (November 1 and 2): altars, cemetery vigils and parades.
• Independence night, every town square (September 15): the most widely celebrated night of the year.
• Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico City (December 12): the pilgrimage to the Basilica.

Each of these works best with a little lead time. Arrive a day early, because roads and buses into the host city are busiest on the eve. Expect room rates to rise for the festival dates, and choose a hotel within walking distance of the center, since traffic and closed streets make short taxi rides slow. For the Guelaguetza, buy auditorium tickets as soon as they go on sale, or plan to enjoy the free events in the streets.

Mexican festivals like these fill hotels in their host cities, so treat them like a peak-season trip and book rooms first. For Oaxaca, see our Oaxaca City travel guide.

Public holidays in Mexico: official days off, closures and crowds

Public holidays in Mexico are set by the Federal Labor Law. There are seven every year: New Year's Day, Constitution Day, Benito Juárez's Birthday, Labor Day on May 1, Independence Day on September 16, Revolution Day and Christmas Day. October 1 is added once every six years for the presidential handover, and federal election days are holidays too.

On these days banks, government offices and schools close. Holy Thursday and Good Friday are not statutory holidays, but offices and schools close anyway and many businesses follow.

The crowds come from domestic travel. Mexicans often plan their own vacations around the Monday holidays and add bridge days, so flights, long-distance buses and hotel rooms fill on those weekends. Holy Week and the Christmas to New Year break are the busiest weeks of all, and beaches near the big cities get crowded.

On the holidays themselves, museums, archaeological sites and tour operators set their own hours, so check opening times before you go rather than assuming a closure.

A practical approach is to book transport and rooms early for any long weekend, and to carry some pesos before a holiday in case ATMs run low. For bus and flight planning, see our guide to getting around Mexico, and for cash and cards see currency and payments in Mexico.

Final Thoughts

Mexican holidays reward a little planning. Know which dates are official, because that is when banks and offices close, and know which celebrations draw crowds, because that is when rooms and buses sell out. September's Independence night, November's Day of the Dead and the long December season are the high points, and each is worth traveling for. Check the dates for your year in the table above, book early for Holy Week and the Christmas break, and leave room in your plans for the local fiesta you did not know about.

FAQ: Mexican Holidays

Related Guides

• Mexico's Marvels: Attractions, Beaches and Culinary Delights
• Day of the Dead in Mexico
• Best Time to Visit Mexico
• Mexican Street Food and Markets
• Getting Around Mexico
• Currency and Payments in Mexico
• Oaxaca City Travel Guide