Christmas

Learn about Christmas in Mexico

Also Appears In: Lessons for Kids Connecting with Spanish-Speaking Family Discovering Your Roots (Mexican Spanish) Culture File: Mexico

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Lesson Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Culture File: Mexico series at SpanishPod101.com. In this series, we’re exploring essential cultural information about Mexico, Mexican Culture, and Mexican People. In this lesson, we’re going to learn about a popular Mexican holiday. I’m Michael, and you're listening to Season 1, Lesson 5 - Christmas

One of the most special days for Mexican families is Christmas or "Navidad". As most of you probably already know, this is the holiday held in celebration of the birth of Jesus. During the Christmas season, all the streets in Mexico become filled with light and decorations. Like the streets, the houses also undergo a complete transformation, and the whole family usually helps in the process.

People in Mexico, like much of the rest of the Christian world decorate a Christmas tree, or in Spanish, "árbol de Navidad", and place a present for each family member under it. They also typically put up a nativity scene, depicting Jesus’s birth.

Houses are cleaned until they are spotless and ready to receive all the family members, including some they maybe haven’t met up with all year. Families come together to prepare food and enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner, or "cena de Navidad". During December 24, all families are busy cooking up a storm, the result of which they will eat over the course of the following two to three days. The most typical dishes are "romeros" (rosemary with mole sauce and pork), "bacalao" (salted fish cooked with vegetables and spices), "pierna" (marinated pork baked in the oven), and shrimp soup.

Dinner is often served at 12am, then the presents are opened one by one and shown to the rest of the family, and there is also joking, drinking and enjoying the time spent together as a family.