Experience Easter in Mexico: Traditions and Celebrations You Won’t Want to Miss

First of all, Easter in Mexico isn’t celebrated in a single day. It’s a multi-week extravaganza. Easter festivities traditionally gets started with Carnival, the festival that leads up to Lent, the 40-day religious observance representing the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert. Lent spans from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday and is a period of penitence and fasting, meaning many Christians give up a personal pleasure for the duration of Lent.

Cozumel (home to the all-inclusive Occidental Cozumel and Allegro Cozumel) hosts one of Mexico’s largest Carnival festivals, which runs from late February to early March. If you’re lucky enough to be in Cozumel during Carnival, you’ll enjoy lively street festivals, incredibly colorful costumes, and festive parades along the island’s oceanfront. Be ready to stay up late — and have a lot of fun.

The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday (Miércoles de Ceniza). This Christian holiday is reserved for prayer, fasting, and repentance. Ash Wednesday in Mexico is a solemn occasion. Practicing Catholics go to church, where priests draw the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads. As a sign of repentance, Mexicans leave the ash untouched all day long. 

Easter festivities peak in Mexico during Holy Week (Semana Santa). In Mexico, the first major event of Holy Week is Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos), the holiday held exactly one week before Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ famed entry into Jerusalem on a donkey with palm branches placed in his path. On Palm Sunday, churches are decorated with thousands of lush palm leaves for special masses, and churchgoers wave their own palm leaves as they make their way into church.

Churchgoers sing songs of praise, just as people in Jerusalem did as Jesus processed through the city. Some Mexican towns even re-create this dazzling procession in their own streets. Local artisans often weave palm leaves into intricate patterns of all shapes and sizes for purchase. 

Holy week in Mexico continues with Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo). This holy day is celebrated in honor of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. Churches in Mexico hold special masses on Maundy Thursday, and some even host elaborate reenactments of the Last Supper (often based on Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting). The following day is Good Friday (Viernes Santo), commemorating the day of Christ’s crucifixion.

The streets of Mexican towns are often closed on Good Friday for the passion play, a powerful re-creation of the Way of the Cross, showing Jesus in his crown of thorns carrying the cross on which he would later be crucified. If you are spending Easter in Mexico City, the Iztapalapa borough puts on the best passion play in the country. This event is a solemn occasion and the devout witness this procession with silence and prayer.

Holy Saturday (Sábado Santo) is dedicated to the time in between Christ’s death and resurrection. In some parts of Mexico, believers burn effigies of Judas on Holy Saturday, a symbol of the disciple who famously betrayed Jesus.

The last day of Holy Week is Easter Sunday, which is the halfway mark of Mexican Easter celebrations. On Easter Sunday, church bells ring and masses are filled with happy songs and hymns in celebration of Christ’s resurrection. After the Easter mass ceremony, locals spill out into the streets in a festive mood, greeting each other and celebrating for the rest of the day, often by enjoying street food and local snacks.

When you celebrate Easter Sunday in Mexico, make sure you leave your chocolate Easter bunnies and Easter eggs at home, as those are mainly American and Canadian traditions. But that doesn’t mean Mexicans don’t have a sweet tooth! You’ll often see locals celebrating the holiday with ice cream bought from vendors lining the streets of most towns and cities.

Easter Sunday may be over, but the Easter celebration in Mexico continues with Easter week. After the often somber moods of the previous days, Easter week is a livelier time, as Mexicans look forward to spring. Many schools and businesses close down for the week, and families head to the beach for a little rest and relaxation. 

Now’s the time to discover all the Easter food traditions in Mexico. Like most Mexican holidays, feasting is a big part of Easter celebrations. While the country is known for its amazing tacos, there are some other great dishes that are worth tasting around Eastertime.

Since Roman Catholic tradition discourages eating meat during Lent, seafood is popular at this time of year. A delicious, must-try Easter dish is meatless vigil turnovers (empanadas de vigilia), which are empanadas stuffed with seafood, shrimp, or fish.

Another authentic Easter dish you must try is nopal, a type of cactus. Although nopal is served up year-round in empanadas, tacos, salads and more, it’s especially popular at this time of year, when many Mexicans cut meat out of their diet. 

Easter is a fascinating time to visit this beautiful country – start making your plans now!