Celebrating Christmas in Mexico? Events and Activities to Try

If you are prone to traveling to a different country during Christmas, one of these days you may find yourself in Mexico. Mexico has a lot of different traditions that they practice when it come to Christmas. The first thing you should know is that in Mexico they call Christmas, "El Dia de los Tres Reyes." This translates into English to be "The Three Kings Day." While in Mexico, you should also know that almost everybody will take off the last two weeks in December to party and spend time with friends. There are a lot of fiestas that go on in Mexico everywhere you turn. Christmas is something that is celebrated in many different ways in Mexico.

One of the main things that will happen in Mexico is the posada. The posada is a recreation of Mary and Joseph riding on a donkey searching for a "room in the inn." There is usually a small choir of children that accompanies the posada that knock on people's doors asking for lodging for the couple. The places the knock are usually asked before this happens so that there will be nobody with room for the couple. This usually begins 12 days before Christmas Day. It moves along and will grow in numbers until it completely reaches the church where a mass is held. After mass, the children enjoy a festive piñata party.

Still there are a lot of other things that happen when you're in Mexico. In the Ajijic area, a Riviera resort area of Guadalahara is a great place to be. It is a little village near San Antonio. The posada is very fast here and has is intended for a spiritual experience. There are a lot of fiestas and parades that happen here as well as in Taxco and Queretaro. In Queretaro, there is one of the biggest parades that will happen on December 23.

Cajititlan is another place in Mexico you may want to visit if you are in Mexico for Christmas. The only difference here is that they celebrate the holiday on January 6^th. This is the traditional time to celebrate the gift-giving aspect of Christmas all around Mexico. A lot of part of Mexico just coincide the day of celebration like north of the border, December 25. Due to Cajititlan, many children believe they should have gifts on both of these days.

If you are staying with a Mexican family, you may want to know about the ritual of Christmas as well. It usually begins in the afternoon or around dinner time when the family shares a rosca. A rosca is a sweet, ring-shaped loaf that has a ceramic muneca, or doll, that represents the Christ child baked inside. Whoever is the lucky person to get the doll will then be in charge of throwing a party on February 2, Dia de Candelaria for everyone who is present.

There are festivities that happen the days before Christmas. There is a fiesta for the Virgin de las Soledad, the patron saint of Oaxaca. This usually beings December 16 and continues until December 18^. The main highlight for this time is the posada which is at a different church every night from December 18 to December 24. December 23 is when the annual Noche de los Rabanos takes place. This is a very festive time when there are booths set up along the roadsides and on every available space of the socalo. The main focus of each booth is to exhibit hand-carved giant radishes. They are usually sculptures that carry a religious theme but they do not have to be religious.

On Nochebuena, there are processions from a lot of different churches that fan all the way out to zocalo. There are a lot of colorfully-decorated floats, music, traditional dancing, and piñata prizes for everyone in attendance. The main event of this fiesta is the huge fireworks display that is put on.

As you can see Mexico offers a lot of things for anyone visiting during Christmas time. They have fiestas and they have traditions. Mexico is a place of adventure when it comes to Christmas time.