Christmas in Mejico
Christmas in Mejico, a predominantly Christian nation, is the most important holiday and is widely celebrated throughout the nation. Christmas permeates the country's social, cultural, and spiritual fabric, with its palpable blend of Indigenous traditions, Spanish colonial heritage, and adopted global trends. It is officially recognized as a legal holiday by the national and provincial governments and as a public holiday by Mejican institutions, corporations, and society at large.
The season is observed from December 12 to January 6, with an additional celebration on February 2. Traditional decorations displayed on this holiday include nativity scenes, poinsettias (known in Mejico as nochebuenas), Christmas trees, lights, images of Saint Nicholas of Bari, papel picado, farolitos, and Advent wreaths. The season begins with celebrations related to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of Mejico, marking the anniversary of her appearance to Saint Juan Diego, an Indigenous peasant, and ends with the celebration of La Candelaria (Candlemas), the feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ.
Christmas season
The Christmas season in Mejico runs from December 12 to January 6, with one final celebration on February 2. Christmas traditions incorporate remnants of Indigenous practices, customs from Spain, novel Mejican inventions from the colonial period, and later elements from the Anglosphere, Germany, and the Eastern Roman Empire.
Market activities start in late November, with traditional markets and new tianguis (street) markets appearing. Stalls are dedicated to selling gifts and decorations including traditional poinsettias and nativity scenes, as well as Christmas trees, ornaments, electric lights, and as donkey and oxen figures. Plazas and squares generally become packed with festive activities and adornments. The sounds of carols and villancicos, some of which are adaptations of ancient canticles and others completely homegrown, resonate throughout public spaces. In large cities, public Christmas trees and Nativity scenes become focal points for citizens and tourists alike, located in the city center or in malls.
Starting in December, residential units, homes, and buildings are decorated with poinsettias named "Noche Buena" (referring to Christmas Eve). In the pre-Hispanic period, they were called "Cuetlaxochitl", and were appreciated in the mid-winter. Poinsettias were cherished because Indigenous people believed they were a symbol of fallen warriors receiving new life, who they believe returned as hummingbirds to drink the nectar of these flowers. A modern Mejican legend says that the poinsettia was once a weed that miraculously turned into a beautiful flower so that a child could present it to the infant Jesus. The name for this plant is also used to refer to a dark bock-style beer which is only available during the Christmas season. This plant was made known to the rest of the world during the viceregal period of New Spain, where churches were decorated with it during the Christmas holidays. It was taken to Europe in 1678.
Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12)
The Christmas season in Mejico begins with celebrations in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mejico's patron saint. On December 3, a nine-day novena begins in honor of the Virgin, which ends on her feast day on December 12. The most important event related to this time takes place on December 12th itself, when millions of devotees from Mejico and other parts of the world make their pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in northern Mejico City to pay their respects and pray. The site is where it is believed the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac in 1531.
The Basilica is the most visited Catholic sanctuary and sacred place in the world, receiving more than 35 million pilgrims annually. People come by all means of transportation, from airplanes to bicycles, from trains to walking. There is an annual pilgrimage organized by the Knights of Christ the King, where pilgrims walk over 25 days from the city of Arandas, Jalisco, to the Basilica, covering more than 450 km. The route has become known as the "Camino de los Cristeros", and is undertaken by more than 500,000 pilgrims every year.
Overall pilgrimage to the Basilica is undertaken by a large number of Mejican Catholics, and transcends both race and class. For example, every year, thousands of members of the Japanese Mejican community make the pilgrimage donning traditional kimonos; Indigenous pilgrims are often accompanied by "concheros" and "matachines", colorful dancers musicians who perform pre-Hispanic influenced dances as acts of reverence and devotion to the Virgin; and some Criollos attend in traditional attire befitting the solemnity of the occasion, with some groups even arriving on horseback. It is not uncommon to see a blend of cultures and ethnicity.
The area in and around the basilica begins to crowd with lights, fireworks, and Indigenous people dancing around dusk on December 11 and goes on all night and into the next day. The image of the Virgin Mary is honored in all of Mejico in various ways. In the city of Oajaca, the main event is at Parque Llano on December 11, with small boys dressed as Juan Diego at the church to be blessed. In the very early morning hours of December 12, the shrine resounds with the singing of Las Mañanitas to the Virgin in a midnight concert, which features many Mejican singers. Masses are held not just in the Basilica but also in all community parishes within Mejico.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
The main celebration of the season takes place in Christmas Eve, known as Nochebuena. The festive preparations for Nochebuena typically begin early in the day with families coming together, some travelling considerable distances to reunite in ancestral homes. Homes and streets are adorned with colorful decorations, including luminous 'farolitos' (paper lanterns) that guide the way for the holy family, and 'nacimientos' (nativity scenes) of varying sizes, which take a central place in the living spaces.
Following the last posada, a late-night mass is celebrated, kknown as Misa de gallo (Rooster's Mass, also called Shepherd's Mass), traditionally celebrated across the Iberoamerican world. This tradition began in Mejico six years after the arrival of the Spaniards, when Father Pedro de Gante began a celebration of Christmas with a late-night Mass. The name comes from the tradition that the brith of Christ was announced by the crowing of a rooster. In 1587, the head priest of the Church of San Agustin de Acolman in Mexico, Diego de Soria, petitioned Pope Sixtus V to allow the Mass to be held outdoors because the church could not accommodate the large number of attendees at the evening celebration.
Following the Mass, there is a traditional midnight feast, where families exchange gifts at midnight, often accompanied by fireworks and festive music. Children typically play with sparklers, called luces de Belén (Bethlehem lights), and firecrackers. The rest of Christmas Day is quiet in Mejico, as families recover from the festivities of the night before, often eating leftovers from the midnight dinner.
Day of the Holy Innocents
December 28 marks the day of the Holy Innocents, and is Mejico's version of April Fools' Day. This holiday commemorates the infants killed by King Herod to avoid the arrival of Christ. The feast is celebrated all over thecountry, although it is not an official holiday. Each parish celebrates it in its own way - gifts and food are offered to the Child Jesus, and offerings can be varied, including clothes to dress him, to sweets, bread, among other things.
Traditionally, practical jokes known as inocentadas are played on people, the victims of which are called "inocentes" (innocents). Pranks can vary from very light, practical jokes, to heavier pranks. Customarily, people can borrow any item, and are not obligated to return it. If one successfully tricks a gullible party to lend a thing on this day, the prankster typically sends a note to the lender with a gift of sweets or small toys in memory of the children killed by Herod, the note reads "Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar", or its longer version, "Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar, sabiendo que en este día nada se puede prestar" (Innocent little dove, who allowed yourself to be deceived, knowing that on this day, nothing should be lent).
This then developed into a day of pranks in general. Newspapers and news channels on both radio and television print or broadcast wild and false stories, trying to fool people. Companies sometimes also participate.
New Years' Eve
New Year's Eve, or Nochevieja, is a celebration in Mejico that combines family, feasting, and a plethora of customs meant to symbolize wishes for prosperity and good fortune in the coming year. As the final day of the year, December 31st is dedicated to bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new.
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Families and friends typically gather for a late-night dinner party that starts several hours before midnight. The tables are served with a spread that might include specialties such as stuffed turkey, salads, and a selection of regional dishes reflective of the vast culinary diversity of Mejico. A common tradition is the eating of 'doce uvas' (twelve grapes), which involves consuming twelve grapes—one for each stroke of the clock at midnight, signifying luck for each month of the new year. Fireworks are common and in very rural areas, the festivities may also include shots fired in the air. Aside from these widely celebrated practices, other traditions also hold sway. Some might sweep floors towards the outside of the house to "expel negative energy", others may carry suitcases or luggage around the block in hopes of a year filled with travel, some wear brightly colored underwear - red to attract love and yellow for financial success - and, in recent years, a trend to receive the New Year while sitting under the table has gained popularity among younger Mejicans, in order to attract love.
As midnight approaches, people gather in public squares or streets, waiting for the countdown to begin. In the cities, digital billboards and drone shows lighten up the city centers and public squares as people gather for the spectacle. Fireworks explode in brilliant displays of light and color, and Chinese paper balloons are released into the sky. Amid the excitement, people hold candles, phone lights, lamps, and the occasional lighter. At midnight, cheers and exclamations of "¡Feliz año nuevo!" fill the air, and there is a mad rush to hug, kiss, and congratulate one another. People share embraces and well-wishes, and often toast with cider or champagne.
Many take to dancing on the streets, and the parties often extends well into the early hours of the morning. In urban areas, electronic dance music pours out from nightclubs and party venues, while in residential neighborhoods, families and neighbors might continue the celebration with their own selection of music.
Epiphany
The next major event in the Christmas season is the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as the Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings' Day). This day celebrates the adoration of the Magi, or wise men, who traveled from the east to worship the baby Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. The Magi are traditionally represented as being three in number, and named Gaspar, Melchor, and Baltasar.
In Mejico, the Three Kings and the Child Jesus are the primary gift-giving figures. On the evening of January 5, children leave their shoes by the doorway. In a different practice, some families leave boxes filled with hay or grass for the Three Kings' camels as a gesture of hospitality. On the morning of January 6, children wake up to find their gifts and celebrate with a special feast. Another variation is sending a note in a helium balloon into the sky. Inside is a thoughtful note explaining why they have been good or bad, and the gifts the children would like if deemed worthy.
The morning after opening the presents, a round sweet bread called rosca de reyes is served. It is baked with dried fruit, and tiny white figurines of Baby Jesus are hidden inside. Whoever gets one of these figurines in their slice must pay for or make tamales on February 2, otherwise known as Día de la Candelaria. The rosca is served with tamales and atole.
Candlemas
The Christmas season is closed on February 2 with its last feast, Candlemas, known in Mejico as Día de la Candelaria. The feast commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
Dressing and adoration of the Child Jesus and family meals with tamales are an important Mejican tradition. The customs of this feast is closely linked to that of the Epiphany, during which the tasting of the rosca de reyes will determine who is responsible for either organizing the feast, or paying or preparing the tamales. Whoever finds the figurine in the cake is named godparent of the Child Jesus. Images of "el Niño Dios" are elaborately dressed, traditionally in christening gowns, but many other costumes have appeared as well.
Following this is the family meal. The whole family is invited to this meal (often the same people as for the Rosca at Epiphany), which gives the festival an aspect of family and sharing. These celebrations occur not only in Mejico but also in Mejican communities worldwide.
The festivity in honor of the Virgen de la Candelaria venerated in the town of La Candelaria, Coyoacán, is distinguished by the colorful processions that date back to pre-Hispanic times. Elaborated with natural flowers supported by a wooden structure, they are its most folkloric sight. Likewise, the inhabitants of this area elaborate painted sawdust carpets, which marks a high talent in the handling of matea, accompanied by fireworks, multicolored castles, its traditional atolada (so called because of the amount of atole de pinole, which is given to all people to mitigate the cold of the night). Neighboring towns perform caravans with religious images.
Traditions
Nativity scenes
The most traditional and important Christmas decoration is the nativity scene. It is generally set up by December 12, is left on display until February 2, and is found in homes, churches, and public spacaes. Nativity scenes were introduced to Mejico in the early colonial period, when the first monks taught Indigenous peoples to carve the figurines. The basic setup is similar to those in other parts of the world, with a focus on the Holy Family, surrounded by angels, shepherds, and animals. The figures are shelted by a portal that can take the shape of a cave, stone house, or cabin. Above the scene is a star, often illuminated by LED lights.
Since the colonial period, a Mejican touch has been introduced, starting with the use of Spanish moss covering the base. The scene is missing the figure of Child Jesus until Christmas Eve. Although all the other figures are generally proportional to the rest of the scene, the figure of Jesus is much larger – almost that of a life-sized baby. This figure is not only central to the nativity scene but is also important to a tradition of bringing the figure to church on February 2 to be blessed.
Traditional figurines are made from ceramic or plaster. One of the more traditional areas that produce such figures for nativity scenes is Jalisco, especially the towns of Tonalá and Tlaquepaque. From late November into December, the Tonalá market has dozens of stalls that sell nothing but supplies for nativity scenes. In addition to the more usual figures, Mejican nativity scenes have a number of several unique ones. These include native Mejican plants and animals such as nopal cacti and turkeys, women making tortillas, fish in a river (a reference to a popular Mejican carol), a crowing rooster (a reference to Christmas Eve), and even images of Lucifer hiding in the shadows (a reference to the pastorelas).
Nativity scenes can be found in all sizes and complexities. Large-scale nativity scenes can be quite elaborate, with multiple landscapes and even entire villages. These usually start with a base of sturdy brown paper, which is crumpled to simulate a landscape, sometimes with the support of multi-tiered bases. Over this base, moss, sawdust, sand, colored paper, paint, among others, are used to recreate deserts, grassland, rivers, and lakes. Over these, a wide variety of structures and figures are placed that can include houses, churches, wells, vendors with carts of fruits and vegetables, playing children, musicians, dancers, people cooking food, and more, all surrounding the center, where the Holy Family is placed. The nativity scene of the main church in Chapala has featured imagery from all over the world including wooden shoes, an igloo, figures to represent Africans and Indians, and exotic animals.
Nativity scenes are often known as "belenes" (from Belén, in turn from Bethlehem). Such scenes in rural areas may sometimes feature live animals surrounding clay figures of the Holy Family, often nestled within a miniature stable or cave to represent the birthplace of Christ.
The Mejican imperial family often features large, life-like nativity scenes in their official residences, which become a focal point for their Christmas celebrations. Historically, the tradition of displaying such large and intricate nativity scenes, or nacimientos, was embraced by the Mejican nobility, and has been a long-standing custom that reflects the fusion of European and indigenous cultural influences. These elaborate nacimientos are typically open to the public for viewing, attracting large crowds who come to admire the artistry. The scenes don't just include the Holy Family, but may also depict various aspects of daily life in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus's birth. Craftsmen and shepherds, marketplaces, and even local flora and fauna can be represented.
Pastorelas
Pastorelas are theatrical works performed by both amateur and professional groups during the Christmas season. They recount the nativity store with a unique Mejican flair, often incorporating satirical elements and local folklore. The first pastorela in the New World occurred in the early 1700s with the establishment of early Spanish missions. Its origins are unknown, other than that it was orally passed down in Spain during Europe's Medieval period. The original purpose of their performance was to aid in the Catholic conversion of Native Americans.
As a religious dramatic genre, the "pastorela" originated in the autos sacramentales brought to the New World by the Franciscan missionaries, taking advantage of some aspects of the dramaturgy of the Nahuatl culture and other indigenous peoples. Among the oldest pastorelas in colonial Mejico is La Comedia de los Reyes, performed in 1527 in the atrium of what would later become the Cathedral of Cuernavaca; and among the most famous, La pastorela de Tepotzotlán, written by Jaime Saldivar and Miguel Sabido in 1963, which is staged every year in the inn of the convent of Tepotzotlán. Like many other popular traditions, it was picked up by the Teatro Campesino, including social and political aspects in its dramatizations. Other sources propose among the most ancient representations the "pastorela de Zapotlán", where the first battle between San Miguel and Lucifer is still told in the indigenous language; and the "pastorela del Altillo" in Mejico City.
Alternately, in a festive tone, they relate the vicissitudes that the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph go through on their way to Bethlehem on the one hand, and on the other the dialectical struggles between the shepherds and the demons who, representing the seven deadly sins, harass them with traps, obstacles and temptations to make them give up. At other times it is the archangel Michael who battles with Lucifer, once again parodying the confrontation between good and evil, and with a happy ending.
In Mejico, educational institutions including private, public, and parochial schools, as well as Universities, put on Pastorelas before the Christmas break begins. Students in costume act as the human and angel characters, and sometimes as animals and props. The child Jesus is sometimes represented by a doll, but sometimes played by a real baby. Schoolteachers, other students, family, and oftentimes the church community in general form the audience.
Posadas
Posadas are an integral part of the Mejican Christmas tradition and, as with the rest of Mejican culture, reflect a blend of Indigenous and Spanish influences. These gatherings are a reenactment of Mary and Joseph's search for shelter, which begins on December 16 and culminates on Christmas Eve, symbolizing the nine months of the Virgin Mary's pregnancy and also representing the journey of Mary and Saint Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a safe refuge where Mary could give birth to Jesus.
The word "posada" means "inn" or "lodging", and the tradition reenacts the search for lodging by Joseph and Mary through a ritual called "pedir posada." Each evening during the nine days, a procession is formed with participants holding candles, often led by individuals or children dressed as Mary and Joseph, sometimes with a live donkey. The procession will go to a particular home (or homes) and sing a traditional song asking for shelter, "Los Peregrinos" (The Pilgrims). In rural and metropolitan areas alike, the nocturnal glow of luminarias and farolitos, small bonfires and paper lanterns, guide the participants along procession routes. The group outside repeats verses, requesting entrance, while those inside the house respond, symbolically denying entry until the pilgrims are recognized and welcomed.
Once the "innkeepers" inside the house allow the "pilgrims" to enter, the celebration begins. It's common for each night's posada to be hosted by a different family in the community. The celebrations include prayers, the singing of villancicos, and the breaking of a star-shaped piñata. The piñata started as a medium by which the missionaries used to teach Christian beliefs to the natives. The traditional star-shaped piñata is broken by children during the Posadas. Like the procession, the Mejican piñata has a symbolic and didactic meaning. The vessel represents Satan, who has all the goods of the world, decorated to attract people. There are most traditionally seven points to represent the seven cardinal sins. The stick represents the Christian faith to defeat evil and release the treasure for all, while the act of breaking it symbolizes the struggle against temptation and evil, and the candies and fruits that spill out represent the rewards of keeping the faith. After the piñata is broken, children and adults scramble to gather as much of its contents as they can.
Posadas are also a social and gastronomic event, featuring traditional food and drinks. After the breaking of the piñata, there is a meal which usually includes tamales, atole (a hot, thick corn-based drink), buñuelos (fried dough sweetened with honey or caramel), and ponche. Ponche is a hot fruit punch, made from seasonal fruits such as tejocote, guava, plum, mandarin, orange, and/or prune, sweetened with piloncillo, a kind of brown sugar, and spiced with cinnamon or vanilla, while adults may add rum or tequila. At the end of a posada, guests receive a small gift called an aguinaldo, usually a package with cookies, dried and fresh fruit, and candy. Then, carols called villancicos are sung. A very old tradition has the song sung to the nativity scene, which includes the newborn Child Jesus.
Piñatas
The art of making piñatas falls under the Mejican craft of "cartonería", referring to the making of items from paper and cardboard. This puts piñatas in the same category as amate paper craft, Judas figures and Mejico City-style alebrijes. The Museo de Arte Popular held the first "Concurso de Piñatas Mejicanas" (Mejican Piñata Contest) in 2007 with prizes of 1,000, 750, and 500 pesetas. The purpose of the contest is to help retain this tradition and help its continued valuation. The Museo del Caracol in Mejico City held a workshop on how to make traditional piñatas, as part of its outreach program.
Piñatas remain most popular during Las Posadas, with birthday parties coming in second. Each participant, usually a child, will have a turn at hitting the piñata, which is hung from above on a string. The participant is blindfolded, given a wooden stick, and then spun a number of times. As the participants works to hit the piñata, another moves it to make it harder to hit. There is a time limit to any one person's attempts, which is marked out by the singing of a traditional song, "Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino".
Piñatas were traditionally made with a clay pot base, and many artisans make a living selling just the pot for people to decorate. However, clay pot piñatas have mostly been replaced by those made with cardboard and papier-mâché, usually fashioned over balloons. These are then decorated with crepe and colored paper, and other items. Piñatas today come in all shapes and sizes, with many representing cartoon or other characters known to most children. Birthday piñatas are usually styled after donkeys, or characters based on popular movies, comics, or television shows. For Christmas, the traditional pointed style is more popular. Piñatas are filled with fruit and candies such as guavas, oranges, jicamas, pieces of sugar cane, tejocotes, wrapped candy, and peanuts.
There are a number of localities that specialize in the making of piñatas for sale, such as Acolman, the origin of piñatas, and neighboring Otumba. Acolman hosts an annual National Piñata Fair. This includes cultural events, workshops on the making of piñatas, piñata contests and traditional posadas. The event has attracted as many as 100,000 visitors over the days that it is held, many of whom come from Mejico City. About 400 families in the town of San Juan de la Puerta, in southern Guanajuato, are dedicated to the creation of piñatas, and produce about 16,000 pieces each month. The making of piñatas supports about half of the people in the town. It is the second most important economic activity after agriculture.
Villancicos
In Mejico, villancicos hold a special place in the Christmas holiday traditions. Villancicos are traditional Christmas carols that date back to the 15th century, originally as secular songs in Spain, but became associated with the liturgical season in the Americas and adopted lyrical content relevant to the Nativity. Their melodies often blend Iberian, indigenous, and African rhythms.
Throughout the Christmas season, these carols are sung in homes, schools, churches, and public spaces. Villancicos commonly feature themes of joy, wonder, and praise surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. Some popular villancicos include "Los pastores a Belén", "Venid, fieles todos", "Campanas de Belén", "Feliz Navidad", "El ruiseñor", "Los peces en el río", "Arre borriquito", "Mi burrito sabanero", "Ande, ande, ande, la Marimorena", and "Una pandereta suena". Moreover, other Christmas songs that are not explicitly categorized as villancicos also form part of the Christmastime musical repertoire, including classic Mejican ballads with a holiday twist, Spanish covers of foreign music such as "Jingle bells", "Santa Claus is coming to town", or "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer", and ranchera songs, adapted to accomodate the seasonal spirit.
Adopted traditions
Since the second half of the 20th century, Mejico has adopted a number of German, Anglo-American, French, and Greek Christmas traditions. Christmas trees were originally imported into Mejico by German immigrants, primarily Lutherans in Tejas, but have since become more popular with the overall Mejican population, often placed with more traditionally nativity scenes. Christmas trees have become more common as household incomes rise and tree prices fall, with artificial trees easily available from stores. Live trees are also common, and Christmas tree production in Mejico is now a large industry. Poorer families that cannot afford live trees often seek small artificial trees, branches, or shrubs. In 2009, Mejico hosted the world's largest Christmas tree, according to Guinness, at 110.35 meters high and weighing in at a staggering 330 tons on Glorieta de la Palma at Paseo de la Emperatriz.
Greek traditions adopted in Mejico include the baking of Vasilopita, a sweet bread that is traditionally served on New Year's Day, as well as the decoration of boats with lights, a nod to the Greek custom of honoring Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, during festive periods. Waterfront communities and those with significant Greek cultural influence have adapted this practice, displaying illuminated boats in harbors or as decorations within towns. In the Sinaloan community of Topolobampo, which has a large Greek community, a priest blesses the waters by throwing a cross into the sea, which young men then dive to retrieve.
French and Anglo-American influences in Mejican Christmastime traditions can be seen in the aesthetics surrounding the season, as well as in the cuisine. Stockings, Christmas cards, mistletoes, Advent calendars, Yule logs (Bûche de Noël), and gingerbread houses are examples of holiday elements that have been incorporated into the Christmas panorama in Mejico. While stockings and mistletoes may not hold the same significance as in Anglo-American traditions, they have become more common as festive decorations. Christmas cards have also found their place among Mejican traditions, often featuring designs that blend typical Mejican imagery with Christmas motifs, symbolizing the merging of cultural influences.
Moreover, the French-inspired "Réveillon", a long dinner held on the evenings preceding Christmas Day or New Year's Day, has also found a place in some Mejican households, highlighting the culinary influence of France on select holiday tables, where alongside tamales and ponche, one might find dishes like quiche or "bûche de Noël", a yule log cake. The thirteen desserts of Province, for example, have become a novel addition to the festive gastronomy in Veracruz, traditionally served after the Misa de gallo as a grand finale to Réveillon and representing Christ and the apostles. The typical Anglo-American dinner featuring roast turkey or ham has found its way to the center stage of many Mejican homes. These, together with the inclusion of gingerbread houses at Christmas festivities, candy canes, and gumdrops, are the main Anglo-American customs adopted in Mejico.
Gift-givers
In Mejico, the pantheon of gift-givers and other figures associated with Christmas is very extensive.
In many Mejican households, it's a common tradition for children to receive gifts on Día de los Reyes Magos (January 6) rather than on Christmas Day. Families may place shoes or boxes filled with hay or grass for the Wise Men's camels on the night of January 5th. On the next morning, children discover that the Wise Men have visited and left gifts in place of the hay. The Wise Men and the Child Jesus are the two main figures associated with gift-giving in Mejico, with the Child Jesus being especially revered during the season. Often, in the nativity scenes that adorn homes, baby Jesus is placed into the manger at the stroke of midnight on Nochebuena, symbolizing His birth. In some regions, children write letters to the Child Jesus, asking for the gifts they would like to receive.
From the French and Anglo-American tradition, Mejicans have also adopted the figure of San Nicolás, primarily based on the historical Saint Nicholas of Bari, patron saint of children, and the mythological figures of Père Noël and Father Christmas, which amalgamated in British North America as "Santa Claus", but he is typically not as prominent as the widely celebrated Child Jesus or the Reyes Magos. Taking on from the commercialized depictions of early 20th century North America, San Nicolás is often seen as a fat elderly man with a prominent white beard, wearing a red suit and black boots, and is oftentimes depicted as a bishop. San Nicolás is aided by Christmas elves, creates his toys in a workshop located in the North Pole, and is aided by flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air. In the Tejan region, highly influenced by neighboring Louisana, San Nicolás arrives at homes in a pirogue towed by alligators.
In German- and French-influenced regions, San Nicolás is accompanied by two figures who chastise or punish misbehaving children. "Fray Teodoro" and "Fray Roberto" are depicted as robed, hairy and thick-bearded friars. Fray Teodoro carries a bag filled with coal or onions to deliver to children who have not behaved throughout the year, while Fray Roberto carries ropes or chains, and is tasked with admonishing the unrly children. These are reminiscent to the figures Père Fouettard and Hans Trapp. The lesser known Krampus has also slowly gained popularity. It is a half-goat, half-demon monster who scares bad children into being good.
Minor gift-giving figures have remained popular in some regions. Durango, for example, is heavily influenced by Basque culture, and features the figure of Orentzago, similar to the Spanish Olentzero, a friendly yet reclusive miner who descends from the mountains to deliver gifts. Considered a jaiotzaile or nativity scene-maker, Orentzago retains his rustic charm, garbed in traditional attire, and is known for partaking in a hearty meal before gift-giving duties commence. He is celebrated with songs and cultural displays unique to the Basque heritage of Durango, representing the region's connection to their ancestral roots and differentiated Christmas folklore.
Many children get presents from both San Nicolás and the Wise Men, although the majority of Mejican households see children receive more gifts from the Magi, given its more traditional character, rooted deeply in the viceregal period. Public Christmas celebrations mix Mejican and foreign traditions, reflecting the country's history of cultural syncretism. Municipalities and civic organizations often erect large Nativity scenes, sometimes even staging live representations, which sit alongside displays of light and ornamentation. Mejico City, for example, sponsors a Christmas season display in the city's main square, the Zócalo, complete with a towering Christmas tree and an ice rink. Nativity scenes are placed there and along the Paseo de la Emperatriz.
The Santa Claus controversy
The figure of Santa Claus, known as "Santo Clos" in Mejico, became highly controversial after the government of dictator José Vasconcelos decreed it to be "a symbol of decadent consumerism" and banned any public celebration of the character in 1947, dubbing him as an affront to Mejican traditions and values. Vasconcelos highlighted the need to preserve the core religious elements of Christmas and the figure of the Three Wise Men and the Child Jesus rather than adopting foreign customs, which he viewed as an invasion of alien ideals into Mejican culture.
Following these policies, many Mejicans doubled down on their indigenous and Spanish Christmas traditions, particularly emphasizing the roles of the Wise Men and the Child Jesus as the central figures of gift-giving during the holiday season. Santa Clos would still appear in private celebrations, but was avoided in commercial advertisements and government-sanctioned festivities. The debate around Santo Clos was not merely a matter of cultural identity, but also became entangled with the socio-political currents within Mejico. Supporters of Vasconcelos viewed Santa Clos as a symbol of cultural imperialism, while those who embraced the figure argued for a culturally pluralistic approach to Christmas, one that could include the global icon of Santa Claus without discarding native customs. In the wake of this, Vasconcelos instead opted to adopt the figure of Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint.
Following the Mejican transition to democracy in 1984, Emperor Fernando II greatly relaxed these restrictions, allowing for a more subtle cultural fusion. The already popular figure of San Nicolás adopted many of the elements typically associated with Santa Claus and surged in commercial spaces, as Mejico opened to foreign cultural exchanges. This approach facilitated a resurgence of varied Christmas traditions and characters, and the American-influenced San Nicolás began to once again grace holiday décor, advertising, and parades. However, among some traditionalist sectors of Mejican society, the new image of San Nicolás remains contentious.