Christmas in Mexico: Traditions, Dates and Where to Spend the Holidays (2026-27)

Key takeaways

• Christmas in Mexico lasts about seven weeks. It opens with the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12 and winds down on Día de la Candelaria, February 2. The stretch to January 6 is nicknamed the Guadalupe-Reyes marathon.

• The main celebration is Nochebuena, the night of December 24, with a late family dinner and the Misa de Gallo at midnight. In 2026, Christmas Eve falls on a Thursday.

• Las Posadas fill the nine nights from December 16 to 24 with candlelit processions that re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for lodging, and each one ends with ponche, tamales and a piñata.

• Only December 25 and January 1 are mandatory rest days under Mexico's federal labor law. December 12, January 6 and February 2 are normal working days.

• Puerto Vallarta and the Punta Mita peninsula pair a beach holiday with the Guadalupe processions. Oaxaca, San Miguel de Allende and Mexico City are the inland picks for seeing the traditions at full scale.

How Mexico celebrates Christmas, from Guadalupe to Candelaria

Navidad in Mexico runs for weeks. The season starts on December 12 with the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe and, in many families, doesn't fully end until February 2, when whoever found the figurine in the Three Kings' bread hosts a tamale dinner. Mexicans call the busiest part of it, December 12 to January 6, the Guadalupe-Reyes marathon.

Many of the customs date from the colonial period and mix Catholic and local practice, from the posadas, which trace back to the Augustinian convent at Acolman, to the poinsettia, a native plant known in Nahuatl as cuetlaxóchitl. The main celebration falls on the night of December 24. Below is each date on the 2026-27 calendar, what people eat, and where in Mexico the traditions are easiest to see.

The 2026-27 Christmas calendar in Mexico

The public holidays are the mandatory rest days set by Article 74 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo. With Christmas Day and New Year's Day both on a Friday this season, each one starts a three-day weekend.

The dates, one by one

The religious feasts fall on the same dates every year; only the weekdays change. In 2026-27, Nochebuena and New Year's Eve both land on a Thursday.

December 12: Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe

The feast honors the Virgin of Guadalupe, who according to Catholic tradition appeared to Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac in 1531. Pilgrims travel on foot and by bicycle to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City for days beforehand. Mexico City's government estimated about 13 million people around the Basilica by the early hours of December 12, 2025. At midnight, crowds sing Las Mañanitas, the traditional birthday song, to the Virgin, and towns across the country hold their own processions to their Guadalupe churches.

December 16 to 24: Las Posadas

On each of the nine nights before Christmas, a procession, often led by children dressed as Mary, Joseph, angels and shepherds, carries candles from house to house and sings to ask for lodging. The hosts sing back a refusal and don't let them in until the last house, where the doors open and the party begins. For many Catholics, the nine nights form a novena that ends on Christmas Eve.

The custom dates to 1587, when Pope Sixtus V allowed the Augustinian friars of Acolman, near Teotihuacán, to celebrate nine Masses before Christmas, known as misas de aguinaldo. Today a posada can be a neighborhood procession or an office party, and hosts usually serve tamales, ponche and buñuelos before the piñata comes out.

December 24: Nochebuena and the Misa de Gallo

Christmas Eve is the main event. Families gather late, and many attend the Misa de Gallo, the Christmas Eve Mass that's traditionally held around midnight. Its name, "rooster's Mass," comes from the Roman idea that a new day began when the rooster crowed. Dinner follows, and the menu has colonial roots: bacalao and romeritos became part of the meal because Christmas Eve was once a day of abstinence from meat.

December 25: Navidad

Christmas Day is the quieter half of the holiday. After a late night, families stay home or visit relatives, and lunch is often the recalentado, the reheated leftovers from Nochebuena.

December 28: Día de los Santos Inocentes

The feast remembers the children killed on King Herod's orders in the Gospel of Matthew, but in Mexico it works like April Fools' Day. The classic prank is to borrow something and keep it: once the lender hands it over, the borrower says "inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar" ("innocent little dove, you let yourself be fooled").

December 31: New Year's Eve

At midnight, people eat 12 grapes, one for each chime of the clock, and make a wish for each month of the new year. The custom came from Spain, and Sonora is Mexico's largest grape-growing state. January 1 is a public holiday.

January 6 and February 2: Día de Reyes and Día de la Candelaria

Día de Reyes marks the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem, and it's the day children traditionally receive presents from the Reyes Magos. Families cut a rosca de reyes, a ring-shaped sweet bread with a small figurine of the baby Jesus baked inside. Whoever finds the figurine becomes its godparent: they're expected to dress it, take it to church to be blessed on February 2, Día de la Candelaria, and host the tamales and atole that day. Candelaria also marks the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and closes the season.

Piñatas, nacimientos and the nochebuena flower

These four customs turn up on several dates across the season.

• Piñatas: The traditional Christmas piñata is a star with seven points that stand for the seven deadly sins. Breaking it stands for the defeat of evil: the blindfold represents faith, and the candy that falls out represents blessings. INAH calls Acolman the cradle of the piñata.

• Nacimientos: Nativity scenes go up in homes, churches and town squares. Around midnight on Christmas Eve, the figure of the baby Jesus is rocked, sung a lullaby (the arrullo) and laid in the manger, and in many homes the scene stays up until February 2.

• The nochebuena flower: The poinsettia is native to Mexico, where it's called flor de nochebuena. Its Nahuatl name is cuetlaxóchitl, and in the colonial period it was used to decorate churches at Christmas. The English name comes from Joel Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico, who collected the plant in the late 1820s and sent cuttings home.

• Pastorelas: These shepherds' plays follow the road to Bethlehem, where devils tempt the shepherds and are defeated, traditionally by the Archangel Michael. Most are played for laughs

Where to stay on the Pacific coast over the holidays

Two resorts on the Punta Mita peninsula publish holiday programs, one built around families and the other around adults who want a quiet week.

Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita opened in 1999 and has 177 rooms and suites, swimmable beaches and two Jack Nicklaus golf courses. Its 2026 festive program includes a Christmas Eve dinner with live music on Cuevas Beach, Santa's arrival on the same beach on Christmas morning, a pop-up at Tamai with Chef Justin Paul from December 14 to 30, and a New Year's Eve dinner at Nuna Pool followed by a beach party. Kids For All Seasons takes ages five to 12, there's a separate teen space called The Container, and the Hakari Cultural Center runs luchador-mask and chocolate workshops.

Best for: Families and multi-generational groups who want kids' clubs and golf on site over the holidays.

Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort is a separate resort on the same peninsula. It's adults-only and all-inclusive, with 15 tented bungalows, and it opened in December 2022. Its 2026 holiday program centers on a Nochebuena dinner of moles, tamales and seasonal dishes, with ponche and hot chocolate by the fire afterward, and a New Year's Eve dinner followed by a beach bonfire and fireworks. A whale weekend runs from December 18 to 20, and guests can book a temazcal ceremony on the days in between.

Best for: Couples who'd rather spend the holidays quietly, with the Christmas Eve dinner as the main event.

Where to spend Christmas in Mexico

You'll find posadas and Christmas Eve Masses all over Mexico, but a few places put on the traditions at a bigger scale. The choice comes down to a beach base with processions nearby or a city where the celebrations take over the main square.

Pacific coast: Punta Mita and Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta spends the first 12 days of December on its Fiestas Guadalupanas. Every evening, groups from neighborhoods, businesses and schools walk from 31 de Octubre Street along Juárez Street to the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, many with mariachis or banda and some with floats. The 2023 program listed more than 350 of these processions, and the biggest, the Pilgrimage of the Favored, can draw up to 20,000 people on December 12. Jalisco declared the fiestas part of the state's intangible heritage in 2018.

Punta Mita, about 45 km north of Puerto Vallarta at the tip of Banderas Bay, is the quieter base for the same holidays. Humpback whale-watching season in the bay generally starts in early December, so a Christmas trip overlaps with its first weeks. Our guide to things to do in Punta Mita in December covers whale trips, surfing and day trips from the peninsula.

Oaxaca: the Night of the Radishes

Every December 23, Oaxaca City's zócalo fills with carved radishes for the Noche de Rábanos. Market vendors began carving radishes to catch shoppers' attention, and in 1897 the municipal president, Francisco Vasconcelos, made it an annual competition. In most years about 10 tons of radishes go into the contest, some longer than 30 inches, and entrants carve them into dioramas that range from nativity scenes to moments from Mexican history.

San Miguel de Allende: the Gran Posada

San Miguel de Allende holds public posadas in different neighborhoods from December 16. The last one, the Gran Posada, has been held on Christmas Eve in the Jardín, the main square in front of the pink parish church, La Parroquia, and it ends with the baby Jesus laid in the manger of the town's large nativity scene.

Mexico City: the Basilica and the Zócalo

Mexico City hosts the largest Guadalupe pilgrimage, with millions of people at the Basilica on December 11 and 12. Later in the month, the city sets up a Christmas fair, the verbena navideña, in the Zócalo. The 2025 edition ran from December 20 to January 4 with concerts, pastorelas and a giant nativity scene.

Frequently asked questions

Is Christmas in Mexico celebrated on the 24th or the 25th?

Both, but December 24 is the big night. That's when families sit down to the main Christmas dinner, often after the midnight Misa de Gallo. December 25 is a quieter day at home and is the official public holiday.

What do Mexicans call Christmas?

Christmas is Navidad, and the greeting is "Feliz Navidad." Christmas Eve is Nochebuena, which is also the Mexican name for the poinsettia.

When does the Christmas season in Mexico start and end?

It starts on December 12, the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the main stretch ends on January 6, Día de Reyes. Many families don't close the season until February 2, Día de la Candelaria, with tamales.

Is December 12 a public holiday in Mexico?

No. The Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe isn't one of the mandatory rest days in the federal labor law, though it's one of the largest religious feasts of the year. Over the holiday season, only December 25 and January 1 are public holidays.

Where is the best place to spend Christmas in Mexico?

For the traditions themselves, Oaxaca City has the Noche de Rábanos on December 23, San Miguel de Allende has its Gran Posada on Christmas Eve, and Mexico City has the Guadalupe pilgrimage and the Zócalo Christmas fair. For a beach holiday, Puerto Vallarta's Guadalupe processions run through the first 12 days of December, with Punta Mita a quieter base up the coast.

What is the rosca de reyes?

It's a ring-shaped sweet bread eaten on January 6, with a small figurine of the baby Jesus hidden inside. Whoever finds it in their slice hosts a tamale dinner on February 2, Día de la Candelaria.