Noche Buena or Christmas Eve is celebrated in Cancun by families and friends coming together at houses and celebrating with a dinner that celebrates well into the morning.  The children are often seen with sparklers and you can see some fireworks going off here and there. People start exchanging gifts, although Santa didn’t start visiting Mexico until recently.  Since Mexico is steep in Catholic Tradition the Tres Reyes Magos, (Three Wise Men) visited on January 6th with their gifts.

Christmas Day in Cancun

Then on Christmas Day, their families and friends gather again and enjoy the traditional recalentado – or what’s leftover from the evening before.  A typical traditional Christmas dinner may include turkey, pasta dishes, salad, and one of my favorites, Lasagna. However, a local traditional favorite is romeritos and bacalao, a salted cod dish.  

Christmas celebrations start early in Mexico

However, Mexico celebrates the holiday season for about a whole month starting December 12th with celebrations for the Virgin of Guadalupe and ending on January 6th with celebrations for the Tres Reyes Magos (The Three Wise Men).  So there is a lot of time to celebrate Christmas in Cancun and the Riviera Maya.

 You can even pick up a wonderful Nativity Set, made of clay. while spending Christmas in Cancun.  The Nativity set tradition stems from Spain, where Nativity Scenes were prevalent.    Virgin Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and barn animals will be a treasure for years to come.  Each region of Mexico decorates in bright colors and has a different decorating style. There are literally thousands and thousands of figures available and they take all of the space under the tree.  Some of the sets are decorated to be a bit silly since in different religions they are thought to show different virtues and sins.

What I love about holidays is how it mixes all different cultures.  One of Mexico’s traditions that I love, La Pinata, takes its origins from China.  La Pinata, the Christmas Pinata has seven spikes (or peaks) that represent the seven deadly sins.    Hitting the Pinata represents getting the sins out of our lives and we get a reward of sweet candy and fruits.  

Spending the holidays in Cancun with your family

Although these are all wonderful Christmas traditions in Cancun and Mexican Rivieria, which one is my favorite?  Just spending time with my family and not having to do any work around the house. I would love just introducing a new culture to my children.  Then enjoying time together at the beach, and perhaps doing a few new activities together.  What a wonderful way to celebrate, actually spending quality time together without having any of the stress, and work.  The all-inclusive resorts of Cancun and the Mexican Riveria will treat your whole family to the fun.

 

If you would like to have a stress-free holiday without the work of setting it up, just give me a jingle!

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