Statutory holidays are legislated at a Federal level and dates given as a holiday by statute are termed locally as “Dias Feriados.” This guide describes Mexico’s statutory holidays, as well as a range of civic holidays and regional/national festivities observed throughout the year.

See also: When to visit Mexico: Seasons and Events

Statutory Public Holiday dates in Mexico

Statutory holidays are dates decreed by federal law as national holidays for all workers in Mexico. There are currently seven statutory holiday dates in Mexico, with one additional holiday date on presidential election years.

January 1

Año Nuevo. New Year’s Day. Banks, offices and factories remain closed.

February 5

Dia de la Constitucion. This day celebrates the promulgation of the country’s 1917 Constitution The date is observed on the first Monday in February.
See also: Long weekend holidays in Mexico

March 21

Cumpleaños de Benito Juarez. The birth date of Benito Juarez, Mexico’s first and most revered President, is celebrated with a public holiday. The date is observed on the nearest Monday to his birth date every March.
See also: Long weekend holidays in Mexico and Benito Juarez
See also: Benito Juarez

May 1:

Dia del Trabajo. Mexico, like many other industrialized countries, Mexico celebrates Labor Day on May 1 every year, commemorating the advent of workers’ unions. All banks and offices close, but most shopping centers remain open for business.

September 16

Dia de la Independencia. This date commemorates the date when Father Miguel Hidalgo made his ‘cry for independence’ on September 16, 1810 in the town of Dolores Hidalgo — an event that ultimately led to Mexico’s independence from Spanish rule. Independence celebrations take place on the evening of September 15; September 16 is a public holiday.
See also: Independence Day in Mexico

November 20

Dia de la Revolucion. November 20 commemorates the start date of Mexico’s 1910 revolution, led by Francisco I. Madero. The date is observed on the third Monday in November.
See also: Mexican Revolution and Long weekend holidays in Mexico

October 1 (presidential election year)

Transmision del Poder Ejecutivo Federal. Mexico’s Federal Government and Presidency returns for re-election every six years. On the date of transition, every six years, Mexico observes a public holiday.  Prior to reforms in the election cycle, this used to be on December 1.  As of 2024, the presidential election year holiday is observed on October 1.
See also: Mexican Politics

December 25

Dia de Navidad. Christmas Day is observed with a public holiday in Mexico.
See also: Christmas in Mexico

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Civic holidays in Mexico

In addition to the national holidays decreed by statute, Mexico observes a number of other Civic Holidays. These are not holidays although some states and municipalities may observe them and offer workers time off in their locale.

February 19

Dia del Ejercito. Army Day, also known as Dia de la Lealtad (Day of Loyalty), commemorates the day when President Madero was escorted to the National Palace by cadets of the nation’s military college.

February 24

Dia de la Bandera. Flag Day was introduced by President Lazaro Cardenas, a man best known for having nationalized Mexican oil reserves in the 1930’s. The day commemorates Mexico’s current flag as well as previous ones. Schools often get children to undertake flag research projects for presentation on this day.

March/April:

Semana de Pascua. Easter week holidays vary depending on each year: consult your calendar for details. In Mexico, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are not designated official public holidays, although schools are closed and Easter Week is one of Mexico’s important holiday periods.
See also: Easter in Mexico

March 18

Anniversario de la Expropriacion Petrolera. This day commemorates the day in 1938 when President Lazaro Cardenas expropriated all oil reserves and declared oil a strategic Mexican national asset.

April 21

Heroica Defensa de Veracruz. The Heroic Defense of Veracruz commemorates the defense of Veracruz in 1914 when the port city was sieged the by the USA.
See also: Guide to Veracruz

May 5

Batalla de Puebla. The Battle of Puebla, or more commonly referred to as simply Cinco de Mayo, is observed as a public holiday in the state of Puebla, but nowhere else in Mexico. The date commemorates the victory of a small Mexican army against a French army double the size on May 5, 1862. The French re-took the city a year later and soon after installed Emperor Maximilian in 1864. The date is far more widely celebrated by people in the USA than in Mexico itself; possibly due to beer and liquor companies aligning themselves with the date as part of their US marketing. The date is sometimes mistakenly associated with Mexico’s Independence, which is September 16.
See also: Cinco de Mayo in Mexico

May 8

Cumpleaños de Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Miguel Hidalgo is known as the “Father of Mexican Independence.” Although he and his conspirators were captured and executed by the Spanish for their insurgency against the Spanish Crown, his movement gave inspiration and created a political vacuum that eventually led to Mexico’s independence from Spain and, alongside Ignacio Allende and Jose Maria Morelos, is a revered personality in Mexico’s independence history.
See also: Mexico’s History

June 1

Dia de la Marina. Mexico’s Navy Day, acknowledging the nation’s maritime service men and women. The day is commemorated with various military parades.

September 13

Dia de los Niños Heroes. “Boy Heroes” (or Cadet Heroes); this day commemorates the events which took place at the Battle of Chapultepec, in modern-day Mexico City. The battle, which took place during the Mexican-American war in 1847, gave victory to US troops over Mexican forces defending Chapultepec Castle. According to military records, six cadets refused to fall back as the superior US forces moved to take the castle; choosing to fight to the death; the last of the six is said to have wrapped himself in a flag and jumped from the castle point. The event is also commemorated in a permanent monument of six pillars, which stands at the foot of the castle near the capital’s principal boulevard, Paseo de la Reforma.

September 27

Consumacion de la Independencia. Consummation of Independence; this date marks the end of the War of Independence, eleven years after Miguel Hidalgo’s ‘cry for independence’.

September 30

Cumpleaños de Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon. Birth date of Jose Maria Morelos, a general in the armed struggle for independence who took up leadership of the rebellion following the execution of Miguel Hidalgo. Jose Maria Morelos was captured and executed by the Spanish for treason in 1815. Following the execution his Lieutenant, Vicente Guerrero, continued the armed struggle against the Spaniards for Mexican independence. The city of Valladolid was later renamed in his honor to present-day Morelia.
See also: Guide to Morelia.

October 12

Dia de La Raza. Columbus Day; commemorates the Discovery of the New World by the Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus.

November 2

Dia de los Fieles Difuntos. Mexico’s “Day of the Dead”, celebrations take place over 2 days (November 1st and 2nd) and contemporarily, October 31 is often included, taking-in Halloween. Neither day is an official public holiday, but is widely observed as of Mexico’s important holiday periods.
See also: Day of the Dead in Mexico

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Principal festivity dates in Mexico

These festivities are generally observed in modern-day Mexican culture, but they are not statutory or civic holidays in Mexico.

January 6

Epiphany, also known in Spanish as Dia de los Reyes Magos. In previous generations it was on this day that children received their holiday gifts; today, children receive their gifts at Christmas and sometimes an additional gift on this date. It’s also the date when Rosca de Reyes is taken, a sweet bread inside which is hidden a plastic doll. If your slice contains the doll, you host a party at your home on February 2, Candles mass, and serve Mexican corn tamales.

February 2

Dia de la Candelaria – Candle mass. This is the date when tamales, flavored (sweet or sour) corn paste wrapped in corn leaves and steamed, are eaten. If your slice of Rosca de Reyes contained the plastic doll, traditionally you serve tamales at a house party on this date.

February 14

Not traditionally a Mexican holiday, but with the Anglo-American influence February 14th is celebrated as Valentines Day — Dia del Amor y la Amistad — particularly in more urbanized places across the country.

April 30

Dia del Niño — Children’s Day is widely observed in Mexico. It’s not a holiday but children receive gifts from family members on this day.

May 10

Dia de las Madres — Mother’s Day is an important cultural date in Mexico, as the country has a strong matriarchal culture. Families take their mothers and grandmothers out to lunch. Restaurants are very busy on this date.

May 15

Dia del Maestro — Teacher’s Day, traditionally school-age children will take their home room teacher a small gift.

Third Sunday in June

Dia del Padre – Father’s day in Mexico. Children will buy a gift for their father and some families take their fathers out to lunch. Restaurants are very busy on this date.

November 1 & 2

Dia de los Muertos, also Dia de los Fieles Difuntos: All Saints Day and All Souls Day. One of the most important religious holidays in Mexico. November 1 is not a public holiday but November 2 is. Halloween (October 31) is often tied-in with the festivities these days.
See also: Celebrating Life on Day of the Dead in Mexico

December 12

Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe – Not a public holiday but an important religious holiday in Mexico.
See also: The Virgin Guadalupe and Juan Diego

December 16-24

Posadas Navideñas – Christmas processions begin on the 16th and run until Christmas Eve on December 24.
See also: Posadas Navideñas

December 24 & 25

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) and Dia de Navidad (Christmas Day). Traditionally, Mexicans take their main Christmas meal and open presents on the evening of the 24th. Some families have taken up the Anglo-American tradition of eating on the 25th. The 25th is a public holiday, but the 24th is a normal working day in Mexico.
See also: Christmas in Mexico

December 28

Dia de los Santos Innocentes — Day of the Innocent Saints. This is a day when Mexicans traditionally play practical jokes on each other, similar to April Fool’s day in the Anglo traditions.

December 31

New Year’s Eve. New Year’s eve is a traditionally a family affair in Mexico, although the squares of main towns and cities will fill up with revelers celebrating the New Year.
See also: New Year Celebrations in Mexico

When to visit Mexico

Mexico offers visitors and foreign residents year-round opportunities to enjoy the climate, culture, and events taking place here. For details about seasons and events see the article about when to visit Mexico

In making the changes, legislators thought the May 1 Labor Day holiday too important to be moved, since it’s also observed internationally; and the September 16 Independence Day holiday was never even considered a candidate.

Three dates were chosen for long-weekend holidays in Mexico

The three dates chosen by legislators for commemoration with long-weekend holidays are:

• the February 5th holiday, commemorating the 1917 Constitution, moved to the first Monday in the month—which is usually the day after the Super Bowl in the US, thus convenient for American Football fans, of which there are many in Mexico;
• the March 21st holiday, marking the birth of 19th century president Benito Juárez shifted to the third Monday in March; and
• the November 20th holiday, marking the start of the 1910-1917 Revolution which is now observed on the third Monday in November.

The ‘bank holiday Monday’ concept has advantages and disadvantages

On the one hand, it guarantees at least three long weekends each year even if the historical dates fall on a weekend or in the middle of the week, increasing the practicalities for travel and stimulating domestic tourism.

Colonial towns and cities within an easy drive of the capital have been notable beneficiaries of this, as chilangos like to use the long weekends to escape from their frenetic routines to take some fresh air, country food, and enjoy a change of scenery.

Hotels like the long weekends as it helps them to sell more rooms, and those running AirBnBs from their home also get a fillip.

Bridges to cross

On the other hand, the long weekends have reduced the possibilities for creating “puentes,” or bridges which, for many years before the long-weekend holidays came to be, were an informal tradition linking the holiday date to the nearest weekend: the previous weekend if the holiday is on a Tuesday, and the following weekend if it’s on a Thursday. (Wednesdays were a bit more complicated.)

That literal “puente” —or bridge— to the weekend has fallen away somewhat in these modern days where time is money and squeezing an extra day’s leisure from the daily grind has a habit of showing up as a minus in the month’s high-frequency economic indicators. In response, people have taken to calling the three-day weekend bank holiday a “puente.”

From a practical perspective, Mexico’s long-weekend holidays offer an opportunity for residents to explore a new colonial town or revisit an old favorite, or take a well-earned break to the coast for some sea air and a swim in the ocean.  You’ll need to plan ahead as bus stations and airports get busy, driving on Mexico’s roads requires extra diligence (and patience), and the best accommodations tend to sell-out ahead of time at the most popular destinations.

Revolution Day and Mexico’s ‘Black Friday’ shopping event

Since 2011, the November Revolution Day long holiday weekend has been tied-in with El Buen Fin, “The Good Weekend,” a commercial endeavor set up to emulate Black Friday in the US and in the process, drive the local economy through consumption.

The Buen Fin event officially starts on the Friday and ends on the bank holiday Monday, but in practice most retailers begin to promote their sales in early November, typically after the Day of the Dead holiday.

The sales tend to lack the spectacular throwaway prices seen in the US, and many of the promotions are offered in the form of interest-free payments in partnership with Mexican credit card companies.

Nonetheless, widespread discounts on goods and services are offered, and some people here use the weekend to buy big-ticket items for their home like furniture and appliances at a worthwhile discount.

It’s also an opportunity for retailers to unload stale inventory ahead of the Christmas shopping season, which emerges in October and begins in earnest across Mexico as soon as the Halloween costumes have been packed away.

Mexico’s 1917 Constitution

Mexico’s Constitution was drafted in the colonial city of Queretaro, north of Mexico City.   It was legalized on February 5th, 1917, by the country’s Constitutional Congress. Venustiano Carranza was the first President to serve under the terms of the new constitution.

In years past, Mexico would have marked this holiday on February 5th but, in 2006, Congress approved an initiative whereby a number of official holiday dates would be observed on the nearest Monday to the official date, thus creating long holiday weekends.

100th Anniversary

2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Constitution and to commemorate the centenary, the Bank of Mexico issued a limited edition 20-peso coin and a limited edition 100-peso banknote which are introduced here.

On the centenary of the revolution in 2010, the bank issued a 100-peso commemorative banknote for that occasion: although they remain legal tender, they are rarely if ever seen in trade now, and have become a collector’s item.

The Mexican Constitution was drafted following the Mexican Revolution, led by Francisco Madero against the dictatorial regime of Porfirio Diaz (an era known in Mexico as “El Porfiriato”), in pursuit of political and agrarian reforms, and social justice.

Although it took several years for Mexico’s political upheaval to settle-down following the revolution —and subsequent enactment of the Constitution— to this day, the document continues to influence and shape Mexico’s social, political, and economic landscape.

Land ownership in Mexico

One of the key Articles of the Mexican Constitution to come to light in recent years is Article 27—which deals with the ownership of land in Mexico. Specifically, it states, foreigners may not own land within 100 km of a land border or 50 km of a sea border.

In a bid to open up land development to foreign direct investment the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari introduced ‘Land Trusts’ (fideicomisos) in the 1990s; administered by banks, they provide foreigners with title of the land in all but name.  You can learn more about property ownership in Mexico in our free eBook about real estate in Mexico.

Before this law came to pass, foreigners who bought land near the border in Mexico used a ‘presta nombre’ (borrowed name)—a Mexican national whom the buyer could trust to hold title of the land, with a gentleman’s agreement existing between the buyer and the title holder.

2010 marked the centenary of the episode, during which time a number of special events were held, and a limited edition commemorative $100 peso banknote (now a collector’s item) was produced.

Low-key by comparison to Independence Day

While Mexico’s annual Independence Day is celebrated with vigor on September 16th each year, featuring parties, fireworks, gatherings of family and friends to eat traditional dishes such as pozole and tostadas, and the 11 p.m. “grito,” either watched on television or attended at the local zócalo, Día de la Revolución is little more than another día festivo —a day off school or work— and the reflections and orations on the achievements of those years of turmoil are left almost exclusively to the political classes.

Now part of Mexico’s long-weekend holiday dates

Mexico’s Revolution Day is one of the public holidays which was folded into a selection of designated “long weekends,” introduced in 2006, and is observed on the third Monday in November regardless of what day the 20th falls on.

The Revolution Day holiday weekend is also tied to an event known as “El Buen Fin” (“the good weekend”)—where retailers and travel companies across the country join in a promotional extravaganza offering discounts and other savings, emulating the US tradition of Black Friday, when stores begin their holiday season sales.  The initiative, which was first introduced in 2011, has become a de-facto annual shopping event in Mexico.

Historical viewpoints vary

While few Mexicans question the importance of the birth of an independent nation after three centuries of colonial rule, the 1910-1917 period of conflict that led to the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution was far more complex, and to a certain extent inconclusive. A number of the better-known heroes of the Revolution were themselves killed in acts of treachery well after 1917. Emiliano Zapata in 1919, Venustiano Carranza in 1920, Francisco Villa in 1923, and Álvaro Obregón in 1928.

Disagreements continue to this day on the significance of the events that made up the revolution, with ideas usually influenced by political views. The revolution is not the same thing seen from the left as from the right, and its success or failure from either of those viewpoints is not something that can be easily settled. The Wikipedia article (Spanish) shows how complicated a matter it was.

The actual date marks the call to arms by Francisco I. Madero in 1910, as he sought the removal of dictator Porfirio Diaz through elections, with the slogan “effective suffrage, no re-election.” Although Diaz didn’t last much longer in power, and Madero briefly reached the presidency, the next decade was one of great upheaval and confusion. A number of the heroes of the revolution — Madero, Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon — were at times rivals in the fighting, and all of them ended up being killed by enemies.

To keep it simple, the rogues were Diaz and Victoriano Huerta, the general who overthrew Madero and is widely blamed with having Madero killed. The others were heroes.

For a blow-by-blow account of the shifts in power, the battles and betrayals during this period, there are plenty of history books to be found in both Spanish and English. For a portrayal of what it was like among the ragtag armies of rebels during the turbulent period, the novel Los de Abajo by Mariano Azuela is the book to read.

The book tells the tale of Demetrio Macias, who leads a marauding band of rebel fighters moving across the Mexican countryside. Received at first as heroes, the rebels soon become as resented as the federal army as they go from town to town pillaging “advances” on their non-existent wages.

The short work makes only a passing mention of the renowned revolutionary leaders, focusing more on a handful of fictional characters typical of the time. From the idealistic, and at first naïve, student Luis Cervantes, to the murdering güero Margarito and La Pintada, the author shows the light and the dark sides of the insurgents.

A few military successes are sufficient for Macias to rise through the rebel ranks, but as the sides change (as they often did during the Revolution) it becomes apparent that Macias doesn’t care who he’s fighting against. The book has been translated into English as “The Underdogs,” which makes a better book title than “those at the bottom,” or “the lower classes,”—but doesn’t quite capture the meaning.

Mariano Azuela, a Jalisco native, was a writer and doctor who served in the ranks under Francisco Villa.

Article Image: Night view looking up at the illuminated Monument to the Mexican Revolution, situated in Mexico City.

Mexico’s political holidays

The other three political holidays: marking the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution (in February); the birth of 19th century president Benito Juárez (in March); and the start of the 1910-1917 Revolution (in November) pale in comparison with the September independence holiday. Those three have all been moved, since 2006, to the nearest Monday, as part of an initiative to create long holiday weekends, similar to Bank Holidays in the UK, which stimulate tourism.

Not so ‘El Grito‘ which is always held on the night of September 15, and followed by a national day-off on the 16th. Legislators considered that the Independence holiday, like the May 1 international Labor Day, was too significant to be tampered with for the sake of convenience or economics.

One of Mexico’s most important national holidays

September 16 competes with other national holidays in a number of ways.

Like Christmas, it’s a time for lighting up public places with decorations in the green, white and red national colors, including images in neon of the country’s Independence heroes: Miguel Hidalgo, the priest who rang the bell on September 16, 1810, in the town of Dolores, and set the independence movement from Spain in motion; and José María Morelos, the priest who continued the revolutionary work of Hidalgo, making a name for himself as one of the most able of Mexico’s military commanders.

Like New Year, it involves people getting together for an evening meal or party, and waiting to 11 p.m. (instead of midnight) when political leaders from the president down to local mayors re-enact Hidalgo’s call to arms from the balcony of the National Palace, or from countless state and municipal buildings across the nation. These hundreds of simultaneous “gritos” of “Viva México!” are followed by bombardments of fireworks.

Traditional foods, and Mexican flags

These gatherings also have their typical foods, and an Independence Day fiesta is incomplete without pozole, a tasty and nutritious broth made with white corn, pork or chicken broth (vegetarian pozole is also available in some places), and served with radishes, oregano, and other spices.

Flags abound, and entertainments include the military parade in Mexico City, with planes flying in formation over the capital.

New $1,000-peso banknote features

The new $1,000 peso bill is presented in hues of teal and yellow.  The face of the new note shows three protagonists from Mexico’s revolutionary era, Francisco I. Madero, Hermila Galindo, and Carmen Serdán; in the background is a steam-driven locomotive—the principal form of transport during that time.  The reverse side of the new banknote features the sub-tropical jungles of southern Mexico, in particular a protected national park in the state of Campeche, ancient Maya ruins, and a jaguar—the iconic cat of that region.  The new bill is printed on cotton-based security paper, unlike the new $100 peso banknote released in the same month this year that is printed on polymer plastic.

Not commonly seen and used

The $1,000 peso bill is not commonly seen in circulation.  ATMs don’t usually dispense them, and they are notoriously difficult to spend at small shops, independent traders, and market stalls who often refuse to accept the bills, either because they ‘rob’ the trader’s float of change, or due to fear of it being a counterfeit.

Part of a new design series

This is the fourth in a new series of bills being rolled-out by Mexico’s central bank.  On August 28, 2018 the Bank of Mexico introduced a redesigned $500 peso bill. and on September 2, 2019 the latest $200 peso bill was placed into circulation.  Earlier this month, the central bank issued a new $100 peso bill.  A new version of the current $50 peso banknote design is expected in the next year.  The current $20 peso bank note continues to circulate, and the new, 12-sided, $20 peso coin launched in April 2020 has yet to be widely seen in circulation.

Mexico’s banknotes have become increasingly sophisticated over the years in a bid to thwart counterfeiters, and this latest series builds on advances in bank note technology.  You can learn more about the new note on the bank’s website.

It takes time for new bank notes to enter physical circulation and the current $1000 peso bill will remain legal tender until further notice.  After the Bank of Mexico withdraws a bank note from circulation, genuine notes can be exchanged at retail banks for a while, and indefinitely afterwards at the Bank of Mexico itself.

Learn about money and banknotes in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a wealth of information about Mexico’s money, banking services, and banknotes.

• Articles about Mexico’s banknotes
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• Download our free eBook about the Cost of Living in Mexico

The 1917 Constitution was drafted quickly by a constituent assembly called by Venustiano Carranza, the head of the Constitutionalist faction during the revolution. It was promulgated on Feb. 5 of that year. Constitution Day is a national holiday, observed on the first Monday in February each year, although civic ceremonies marking the promulgation are still held on the 5th.

Among its better-known Articles, the Constitution extended restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, stripping it of legal and property rights and denying ministers their political rights. It required that all schools be secular and banned any religious services outside of churches. Its anticlerical articles were among the most contentious, and later efforts by the government of Plutarco Elías Calles to enforce them led to the Cristero war of 1926-1929.

It provided for a major state role in the economy, including state ownership of oil and other resources, while establishing significant labor rights and land reform. It also included the restriction on foreigners from owning land along the coast or near the country’s land borders. (This followed a U.S. invasion of Veracruz during the period.)

The speed with which the constitution was drawn up and passed had to do partly with the hurry that Carranza faced to set up a legitimate government after years of civil war, and to keep down the factions that followed revolutionaries Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata.

The 1917 Constitution was Mexico’s third since the country gained independence from Spain in the early nineteenth century. The Constitution of 1824 declared the United Mexican States as a country free and independent of Spain. The 1857 Constitution implemented many liberal precepts, and contained some of the first restrictions on the church, but also included rights such as freedom of speech.

All three constitutions were written and promulgated during periods of unrest and political upheaval: the war of independence begun in 1810, the Reform War of 1857-1860 between liberals led by Benito Juárez and conservatives, and and the 1910-1817 revolution which followed the ouster of dictator Porfirio Díaz.

Times change, and so has the need to update the constitution.

Many of the restrictions on the church were eased in constitutional amendments made during the 1990s, which notably included amendments to enable foreign nationals to own property near coasts and borders, as well lifting some of the restraints on private investment in energy industries (the oil industry was expropriated in 1938, and electricity was nationalized in 1960). Further constitutional changes to allow foreign oil companies back into the country were made in 2013.

For 2017’s 100th anniversary of the 1917 Constitution, the Bank of Mexico issued new commemorative 100-peso bills and 20-peso coins. The government has published information related to Mexico’s constitutional history on a special section of its website.

Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) maintains an original and current version of the Constitution and a recent translation into English, as well as updated versions of all other legislation on the legislative section of its website.

In particular the Creoles (those born in New Spain of Spanish parents) resented being considered inferior by those born in the European homeland. They saw an opportunity in the Spanish war against Napoleon’s invasion of 1808.

The main protagonists of the Independence were the priests Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos.

On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo freed the prisoners in the town of Dolores, locked up the Spanish authorities and called the people to rebel by ringing the church bells. Hidalgo started out with 600 men, but soon had 100,000 and overran towns of central Mexico. Hidalgo was tricked, caught, and condemned the following year, and was executed by firing squad on July 30, 1811.

Morelos, from the western city of Valladolid (now Morelia) led successful campaigns in 1812 and 1813, which included the capture of the city of Acapulco, the then principal trading port on the Pacific coast. He was captured and shot on Dec. 22, 1815. Despite the setbacks, the independence movement continued under the Creole colonel Agustín de Iturbide. On September 28, 1821, the first independent government was named with Iturbide at the head.

Independence was followed by thirty years of great political turmoil, which included the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 in which Mexico lost Texas, California, and New Mexico to the victors.

Then came a period of reform, led by the educated of the country. The liberal Benito Juarez, who would be elected president in 1861, promoted reform laws that were incorporated into the Constitution of 1857. As provisional president, he also reduced the powers of the Roman Catholic Church, and confiscated church property.

In 1864, Austrian Archduke Maximilian was made Emperor with the backing of Napoleon III. Maximilian ruled Mexico until 1867, when he was defeated and shot after Napoleon pulled out his troops to fight a war with Prussia. The return to government of Juarez is also known as the Restoration of the Republic.

The Juarez years were followed by the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, a military leader who was president from 1876-1880 and 1884-1911. Mexico underwent a period of unprecedented economic development under Diaz, with the construction of railroads, ports, and telecommunications. But Diaz’s repressive government and the increasingly wide gap between rich and poor, coupled with Diaz’s courting of foreign investors and large landowners, led to discontent and uprising after he won yet another election in 1910—his sixth consecutive re-election.

The 1910-1917 Revolution was started by Francisco Madero, a democratically minded politician who was opposed to re-election. With military uprisings by Francisco Villa (or “Pancho” Villa as he is commonly known) in the north, and Emiliano Zapata in the south, Diaz was soon forced to resign and go into exile. Madero became president, but his army chief Victoriano Huerta staged a coup in 1913 and had him killed. Huerta stepped down in 1914, and Venustiano Carranza become president.

While few Mexicans question the importance of the birth of an independent nation after three centuries of colonial rule, the 1910-1917 period of conflict that led to the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution was far more complex, and to a certain extent inconclusive. A number of the better-known heroes of the Revolution were themselves killed in acts of treachery well after 1917: Emiliano Zapata in 1919, Venustiano Carranza in 1920, Francisco Villa in 1923, and Álvaro Obregón in 1928.

Disagreements continue to this day on the significance of the events that made up the Revolution, with ideas usually influenced by political views. The revolution is not the same thing seen from the left as from the right, and its success or failure from either of those viewpoints is not something that can be easily settled. The Wikipedia article (Spanish) illustrates how complicated a matter it was.

A new Constitution was promulgated in 1917 which, among other things, restored communal land to the Indian population and renewed the anti-clericalism of the Juarez years.

Next: Modern Times

In 1929, the party that would later become the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was formed as a way of consolidating the reforms that were included in the 1917 Constitution, and which had begun to be implemented during the 1920s.

A series of presidents under the PRI embarked on a course of fervent nationalism in the following decades, which included the 1937 nationalization of the railways and in 1938 the expropriation of the oil industry from British and U.S. firms. The PRI, backed by pro-government labor unions and peasant organizations, kept a tight control on power.

Government was typically paternalistic, looked on to solve problems of farmers, workers, peasants, and even private business. The 1950s and 1960s saw a period of industrialization promoted by the state, coupled with stringent protectionism that lasted throughout most of the 1970s and part of the 1980s.

In 1994, Mexico joined the U.S. and Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and   later that year, it was admitted into the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  NAFTA was renegotiated in 2018 and replaced in 2020 by the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA)

The PRI remained in power for 71 consecutive years until 2000, when the party lost the presidential election to the conservative National Action Party (PAN), bringing about what some considered to be Mexico’s first real democracy. By that time, however, the PRI had already moved far away from its socialist roots, courting foreign investment and having reversed most of the nationalizations during the previous fifteen years or so.

The PAN governed for two six-year periods, or sexenios, and was unseated again by the PRI in 2012. The PAN governments were beset by an increase in violence related to the illegal drug trade, which has continued to the present day.

Mexico’s oil industry—for decades a symbol of the nationalism born of the Revolution—underwent a boom in the 1970s and again in the first decade of the 21st century. Government dependence on oil income, which at one point provided as much as two-fifths of the federal budget, created an unhealthy dependence on oil prices and led to a number of budget crises in recent decades when prices fell.

The Mexican oil sector was opened again to private and foreign investment with changes in the Constitution during 2013 as the state sought to share the costs and risks of finding new oil in more difficult deposits, such as those in deep water. The importance of oil to the overall economy and to budgets has dwindled, however, and it now accounts for less than 20% of government revenue and less than 5% of exports.

A quarter of the way through the 21st century, Mexico’s economy has become highly dependent on manufacturing, which accounts for about 90% of the country’s exports by value.  Major export industries are vehicles and auto parts, electronic equipment, medical equipment and metallic products.

Presidential elections held in July 2018 brought a landslide change to Mexican politics, as voters elected left-wing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The party he founded—Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional, or Morena—has become almost as dominant as the PRI in its heyday, retaining the presidency in 2024 elections under leadership of Claudia Sheinbaum—Mexico’s first female president. Morena won a landslide, governing 24 of the country’s 32 states and controlling majorities in both houses of congress.

As Mexico enters the second quarter of the 21st century, the country continues to experience an unprecedented period of change. Political reforms being made in key sectors including communications, energy, and finance aim to transition the country’s economy away from being heavily dependent on oil and manufacturing into a multi-faceted and diverse economic environment, better prepared to face the disruptions and opportunities brought about through global markets and colossal technological evolution.

See Also: Blog articles about Mexico’s Culture& History

Discover Mexico’s history, from pre-hispanic times, through the movement to independence, the revolution, and modern-times

INEGI, as the institute is known, has a custom of coming up with marriage statistics on Valentine’s day, education data on Teachers Day, birth and death rates on Day of the Dead, and a host of other trivia for the innumerable World days and International days that dot the international calendar.

September is Mexico’s Mes de la Patria when the country celebrates its independence from Spain and the historical characters who helped bring it about, and in September 2014 the usually conventional institute outdid itself in creativity by publishing statistics on the number of streets in the country that are named after the different national heroes and key dates in the nation’s history.

Some of the results are not so surprising: Miguel Hidalgo, or just Hidalgo, known as Father of the Homeland, is the most common name for streets nationwide, with more than 14,000 currently in existence. He is followed by revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata. So far so good.

Perhaps less expected is that Cinco de Mayo, the date that marks the 1862 victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla, is more common than 16 de Septiembre, Mexico’s Independence Day. The irony is that Cinco de Mayo is more celebrated by Mexicans in the U.S., where many apparently confuse the date with Mexico’s Independence (could it be that it’s more similar in sound to Fourth of July?).

Other popular street names include Benito Juárez, Francisco I. Madero, and Lázaro Cárdenas.

The list with number of streets–and even a breakdown of street name by States–can be found by searching INEGI’s website