Civic Holidays
| Date | English Name | Spanish Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 19 | Army's Day | Día del Ejército | Celebrates the Mexican Army on the Loyalty Day ("Día de la Lealtad"), when President Madero was escorted by the Cadets of the Militar College to the National Palace. |
| February 24 | Flag Day | Día de la Bandera | Celebrates the current Flag of Mexico and honors the previous ones. Flag Day was implemented by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1937. |
| March 18 | Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation | Aniversario de la Expropiación petrolera | Celebrates the Oil Expropriation by President Gral. Lázaro Cárdenas in 1938. |
| April 21 | Heroic Defense of Veracruz | Heroica Defensa de Veracruz | Commemorates the defense against the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914. |
| May 5 | Fifth of May | Cinco de Mayo | Celebrates the victory of the Mexican Army, led by Gral. Ignacio Zaragoza against French forces in the city of Puebla, on May 5, 1862.
Also widely celebrated in the United States. US "celebration" of this Mexican historical event is largely a result of promotions in the US by liquor, beer, and bars/taverns/clubs/restaurants since the 1980s. For many years Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the US promoted Cinco de Mayo as Mexican Independence Day which is actually September 16. Although Mexican citizens feel very proud of the meaning of Cinco de Mayo, it is not a national holiday in Mexico, but it is an official holiday in the State of Puebla where the mentioned battle took place. |
| May 8 | Miguel Hidalgo's birthday | Natalicio de Miguel Hidalgo | Commemorates the birth in 1753 of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the initiator of the Mexican Independence War. |
| June 1 | Marine's Day | Día de la Marina | Celebrates the Mexican Navy. |
| September 13 | "Boy Heroes" or "Heroic Cadets" | Día de los Niños Héroes | Celebrates the Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican–American War of 1847. |
| September 15 | Cry of Dolores | Grito de Dolores | Celebrates the Grito de Dolores, an event that marked the start of the independence war against Spain on the eve of September 16, 1810. It took place at a church chapel in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, led by a Creole Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. |
| September 27 | End of Independence War | Consumación de la Independencia | Celebrates the end of the Mexican Independence War on 1821, 11 years after Father Hidalgo started it. |
| September 30 | Morelos' birthday | Natalicio de José Ma. Morelos y Pavón | Commemorates the birth in 1765 of Father José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the founding fathers of the Mexican nation. |
| October 12 | Columbus Day | Descubrimiento de América | Commemorates the Discovery of the Americas in 1492 by the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus. |
Read more about this topic: Holidays In Mexico
Famous quotes containing the word civic:
“It is thus that the few rare lucid well-disposed people who have had to struggle on the earth find themselves at certain hours of the day or night in the depth of certain authentic and waking nightmare states, surrounded by the formidable suction, the formidable tentacular oppression of a kind of civic magic which will soon be seen appearing openly in social behavior.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)