page_title: Tourism in Mexico
section_title: Festivals and Celebrations
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Mexico / Festivals and Celebrations
caption_attribution_description: Español: Grupo Garcia AGS en la FNSM
context_page_description: Tourism in Mexico is a very important industry. Since the 1960s, it has been heavily promoted by the Mexican government, as "an industry without smokestacks." Mexico has traditionally been among the most visited countries in the world according to the World Tourism Organization, and it is the second-most visited country in the Americas, after the United States. In 2017, Mexico was ranked as the sixth-most visited country in the world for tourism activities. Mexico has a significant number of UNESCO World Heritage sites with the list including ancient ruins, colonial cities, and natural reserves, as well as a number of works of modern public and private architecture. Mexico has attracted foreign visitors beginning in the early nineteenth century, cultural festivals, colonial cities, nature reserves and the beach resorts. The nation's temperate climate and unique culture – a fusion of the European and the Mesoamerican are attractive to tourists.
context_section_description: Mexico has many religious and civic festivals as well as cultural festivals of various kinds.
  Since the colonial era, the Roman Catholic Church established a number of festivals, both general and local, celebrating events on the liturgical calendar. Holy Week in Mexico is observed widely, with many re-enactments of events in the last days of the life of Christ. The Christmas season runs for December 12, the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe to January 6, the Feast of the Ephiphany, also known as Three Kings.  There are many local religious celebrations by towns, often on the saint's day for which they were named.
  Food and drink festivals include the Alfeñique fair in Toluca; the Feria Nacional de San Marcos in Aguascalientes; the International Pasty Festival in Real del Monte, Hidalgo state; the Night of the Radishes (December 23) Oaxaca, and the Puerto Vallarta Gourmet Festival.
  A major gathering of Spanish-language booksellers is the annual Guadalajara International Book Fair. The International Cervantes Festival is held annually in Guanajuato. In Oaxaca, the Oaxaca International Literary Competition and the Oaxaca Independent Film Festival are events.
  About 225 cities and towns celebrate carnvales before Lent in late February or early March. The largest are in Mazatlán and the city of Veracruz, but such celebrations can be found all across the country: Morelos, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Chiapas, Campeche, and Puebla. The larger city "carnavales" employ costumes, elected queens, and parades with floats, but Carnaval celebrations in smaller and rural areas vary widely depending on the level of European influence during Mexico's colonial period.
caption: Attractions at the 2014 Feria Nacional de San Marcos.
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