Christmas posada © Dale Hoyt Palfrey, 1996 In Mexico, the Christmas holidays begin unofficially with the saint's day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. But can decorations appear anytime after the Day of t... read more

Felipe Avila handed me his burning candle, converting me from spectator to pilgrim in the Fiesta de Guadalupe! My arrival in Puerto Vallarta coincided with the beginning of the weeklong Fiesta de Guad... read more

The yearly "Fiestas de Santiago" was going full tilt. And I truly mean tilt, because at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I noticed quite a few local residents in a very happy mood due to the consumption of ... read more

After a long, hot, dry drive through eastern Oaxaca’s Isthmus de Tehuantepec, our van and trailer began climbing the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. The Central Depression of Chiapas spread its valley banqu... read more

Experienced Mexico travelers recognize a sure sign that a local fiesta is in progress whenever they spy a churchyard or stretch of roadway bedecked with lines of bright tissue paper cut-outs. ... read more

This is a very useful book for explaining Mexicans to the rest of us North Americans. Professor Heusinkveld has set out to cover Mexican attitudes to business relationships, social interactions, culture, customs and values and has largely succeeded in describing our neighbors in understandable ways. I would like to have read "Inside Mexico" four years ago when we first came here to live. However, perhaps it's only now, after four years' experience in the country, that I can really appreciate the people. read more

Las Posadas are fiestas that begin on the 16th and end on the 24th of December. In Mexico, during this period, there are many Posadas every evening.

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Every so often, an event or circumstance occurs which changes the way we think of ourselves, or our place in the universe. Today was a day like that. Late yesterday, a guest of my neighbor learned of ... read more

Tiny Tlaxcala may be Mexico's smallest state but it is one of the most quintessentially Mexican in its traditions, especially in the realm of cuisine. The same artistic flair with which the people of t... read more

In May of 1992, we were still in process of finishing up the remodel of our trailer/ cabaña, to turn it into a real house. Over the previous six months the trailer had been dismantled, two bedro... read more

In Mexico the breaking of a piñata accompanies almost every festive occasion. I loved making and breaking piñatas before ever traveling to Mexico Experiences there brought home the fact tha... read more

It's a brisk, moonless night. At the edge of the Ajijic plaza, an anxious group of villagers huddle shoulder to shoulder, casting expectant glances towards the star-studded sky. A sudden barrage of whistling, sputtering explosives rents the night air. The crowd takes a collective lunge backwards, letting out a gasp of wondrous surprise. A brilliant flash of multi-colored lights illuminates the mass of upturned faces. read more

November is a festive month here in Ajijic, beginning with the celebrations of All Saints Day and Day of the Dead, and ending with the feast of the village's patron, San Andrés. Invariably the most l... read more

It has always seemed appropriate to me that the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, in their monograph Geografia Espanola del Toro de Lidia, uses the valleys of the major rivers of Spain to structure thei... read more

The transition from childhood to womanhood is a significant passage for adolescent girls in almost all cultures. In Mexico, it is marked with the celebration of the Quinceañera, or 15th Birthday. From... read more

The San Marcos Fair, held from the second week in April to the first week of May each year, attracts thousands of visitors from all over Mexico and the United States. It dates back to 1604 when a small indigenous Indian settlement, San Marcos, was founded within walking distance of the growing Spanish city of Aguascalientes. The fair's religious origins, long forgotten, have given way to a lively, colorful three week spectacular, in which bullfights, folkloric dancing, mechanical games, cockfights, cultural events and merrymaking all compete for visitor's attentions.

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The excitement of the bullfight © Shep Lenchek, 1997 On Sunday afternoon, at about ten minutes before 4 p.m., local time, in bullrings all over Spain and Mexico, matadors kneel in arena chapels an... read more

LOVE OF COLORED PAPER is as Mexican as tortillas, tacos, or tequila. There are fiestas all year round and each one is festooned and bright with multi-colored streamers, flowers, and bows; fringed, fold... read more