Mexico: Events in Cancun

What is happening in Cancun:

The Cancun year is marked by a number of festive events from Carnival and Calypso celebrations to International fishing tournaments and weekly street parties.

January

• New Year's Day - January 1 - National Holiday

February

• Constitution Day - February 5 - National Holiday
• Carnival - Cancun

Carnival is a joyous and usually drunken celebration held in February right before the Lenten season begins. Lent is a time for fasting and paying penitence.

March

• Benito Juarez's Birthday - March 21 - National Holiday
• Vernal Equinox
• Easter Holidays - Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (Easter Holiday occurs either late March or early April)

The Vernal Equinox occurs in late March as visitors come to the main temple at Chichen Itza to see the descent of the serpent Kukulkan. There is the theory that the Maya constructed the temple in a way that during equinox a beam of sunlight creates a shadow moving down towards earth resembling a snake. This occurrence is supposed to bring out a good harvest.

April

• Holy Week and Easter
• Cancun Showcase and Travel Expo

May

• Cinco de Mayo - May 5 - National Holiday
• Cancun Jazz Festival

The Cancun Jazz Festival is celebrated on Memorial Day Weekend, which is conducted by the Cancun Promotions Board.

September

• Annual Convention & Hospitality Expo del Caribe
• Independence Day - September 16
• Autumnal Equinox - late September

Mexico celebrates its independence from Spain in 1821. These celebrations feature fireworks, folk dances, mariachi bands, speeches and a great del of decorations in Mexico's national colours, which are red, green and white.

November

• Day of the Dead - Early November
• Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution - November 20
• Movie Festival

The Day of the Dead is celebrated in early November, as it was believed that the spirits of the deceased returned to earth on this day. The deceased relatives and their friends are honoured in a party-like celebration, which includes them visiting gravesides to have picnics.

December

• Immaculada Concepcion
• Annual International Conference
• Annual Cancun Travel Mart
• Christmas Week Celebrations - December 25 to January 2

The Immaculada Conception is a religious festival which is held on the island Mujeres.

The Christmas Week celebrations include festivities that have the breaking of pinatas, candlelight processions, nightly posadas which are reenactments of the time Joseph and Mary were searching for lodging and a two day feast which commemorates the Virgen de la Soledad.