Major Holidays Along The Maya Route

January
Everywhere: New Year’s Day (Dia del Ano Nuevo) is celebrated on January 1 as a national holiday, with parades, prayers and fireworks.

Yucatan Peninsula: Throughout Mexico, Christmas presents are given on January 6, the Day of Kings (Dia de los Reyes), which marks the end of the month long holiday season.

Chiapas: The Fiesta de Enero in Chiapa de Corzo, runs from January 9 to 22, is marked by some of the most spectacular celebrations in Mexico, with parades, processions and masked dancers in the streets. The Fiesta de San Sebastian (January 16 to 22), one of the most important religious feast days at San Juan Chamula and San Pedro Chenalho, is observed with dancing, processions, incense and music in both villages. The Fiesta de San Ildefonso honors Tenejapa’s patron saint on January 23.

February
Everywhere: Candlemas (Candelario), observed as a religious holiday throughout Latin America, marks the midpoint of winter on February 2. Later in the month, Latin Americans revel in a week long Carnival leading up to the austerity of Lent.

Yucatan Peninsula: Candelario is celebrated on February 2 with dancing, processions, bullfights and the blessing of candles and seeds. Constitution Day (Dia de Constitucion), a Mexican national holiday on February 6, means bank and business closings but no big public celebrations in the Yucatan. Merida explodes with music, dance and fireworks for Carnival, as do Isla Mujeres, Cozumel and Campeche.

Chiapas: Carnival is spectacular in San Juan Chamula.

March – April
Everywhere: Throughout Latin America, Holy Week (Semana Santa), the week leading up to Easter, rivals the Christmas season as the biggest holiday of the year. Everybody travels then. Expect crowds and high prices.

Yucatan Peninsula: Holy Week is a time for street parties featuring passion plays, music and dancing in the plazas in Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Campeche. There is a general exodus of city dwellers for the sea or lakeshore, where they picnic and camp.

Chiapas: Holy Week is one of the biggest events of the year in San Cristobal de las Casas. On Saturday, the day before Easter, the whole town gathers to burn Judas in effigy. The festivities are extended for a second week, after Easter, as the Feria de la Primavera de la Paz (Spring and Peace Fair).

May
Yucatan Peninsula: Labor Day, May 1, is a Mexican national holiday, as is Cinco de Mayo (May 5), which celebrates the defeat of the French by the Mexican army at Puebla in 1862. Neither is celebrated in a very big way in the Yucatan or Chiapas, but banks and many businesses are closed. Later in the month, the city of Merida, livens up as it hosts its annual International Song Festival, which features performances of nearly 400 original songs, mostly in Spanish, from a dozen countries. Corpus Christi Day (late May or early June) celebrates blessings of children all over the country.

Chiapas: The Day of the Cross, May 3, is a major ceremonial day in Tzotzil Maya villages, especially in San Juan Chamula.

June
Chiapas: The Fiesta de San Juan, an important feast day in San Juan Chamula, is celebrated on June 24 with ritual horse races through the village as well as religious processions. This is also one of the biggest fiestas of the year in Santo Domingo Palenque. Nearby, the village of San Pedro Chenalho celebrates the Fiesta de San Pedro from June 27 to 30.

July
Yucatan Peninsula: Dancing, fireworks and sporting events are all part of Ticul, a week long fiesta commemorating the establishment of Ticul, a town notheast of Uxmal. Ciudad del Carmen, south along the coast from the city of Campeche, honors its patroness, Nuestra Senora del Carmen, with a big citywide fiesta.

Chiapas: The celebration of Fiesta de San Cristobal, the biggest fiesta of the year in San Cristobal de las Casas, lasts from July 17 to July 25. It is a time of pilgrimages and candlelight processions, and it coincides with San Cristobal’s peak tourist season. July 25 is also the date of the Fiesta de Santiago Apostal in Amatenango del Valle.

August
Yucatan Peninsula: Assumption Day is celebrated throughout Mexico on August 15.

Chiapas: Palenque has a big celebration on the Fiesta de Santo Domingo de Guzman, August 4. In Zinacantan, the Fiesta de San Lorenzo, August 8 to 11, is a time of flowers and processions. On August 30, music, incense and fireworks usher in the Fiesta de Santa Rosa.

September
Yucatan Peninsula: Here and throughout Mexico, there are parades and fireworks on Independence Day, September 16. From September 27 to October 14, the Fiesta de Cristo de las Ampollas (Christ of the Blisters) in Merida honors a sacred cross seemingly immune to fire.

Chiapas: From September 1 to 5, the people of Palenque observe the Fiesta de Santo Domingo, their patron saint, in grand style. Throughout the state, the anniversary of Chiapas joining Mexico is celebrated on September 14, spilling into Independence Day celebrations on the 15th and 16th. In San Cristobal de las Casas, the Fiesta del Barrio de la Merced on September 24 is a big civil celebration.

October
Yucatan Peninsula: A week of parades and dancing heralds in the Fiesta de San Francisco de Asisi on October 4. Columbus Day (Dia de la Raza), October 12, is observed throughout Mexico.

Chiapas: A large market takes place in conjunction with the Feria de San Francisco, an authentically Mexican country fair and fiesta held in Amatenango del Valle October 1 through October 5. In San Juan Chamula, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (Fiesta de la Virgen del Rosario) features music, dancing, costumes and a fair October 6 through 8.

November
Yucatan Peninsula: The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos or Todos Santos) blends remembrance of the departed with cheerfully morbid revelry in a unique Indian-Christian tribute to death on November 1. Sugar skulls, altars, papier-mache skeletons and toy coffins fill the streets of Yucatan cities, where strong Indian traditions survive. November 20, the anniversary of the beginning of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, is a national holiday.

Chiapas: The Feria de Santa Cecilia on November 22, followed up by the Fiesta de la Caridad on the 23rd and 24th, is one of the year’s biggest festivals in San Cristobal de las Casas.

December
Everywhere: Christmas (Navidad) is the holiest of holidays throughout the region.

Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas: The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Mexico, inspires parades, dancing and music nationwide on December 12. The Christmas season begings on December 16, the first night of Las Posadas, the Mexican tradition of nightly processions recalling Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging in Behtlehem. Nativity scenes are the main form of Christmas decoration. Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) is also a time of holy processions and singing. Christmas Day is a national holiday, and the streets are deserted. All Fools’ Day on December 28 is similar to April Fool’s Day.