Mexico and Canada share several holidays: Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day and Labour Day. In March or April there is Semana Santa, Holy Week, from Palm Sunday until Easter. Mexico also has holidays which are specific to its culture. They celebrate various events in Mexican history.
September is known for its great celebration of independence, which usually begins on the first day of the month. Mexicans put up decorations in the national Mexican colours of green, white, and red. September 16 is Mexico's National Day. The real celebration, however, begins the night of September 15, with the Grito de Independencia or Cry for Independence. This commemorates Father Miguel Hidalgo's call for Mexico's independence from Spain in 1810. People gather in the streets to remember and repeat Hidalgo's cry: Viva Mexico, Long live Mexico. The celebrations include fireworks and dances.	Did you know? Another important celebration for Mexicans is the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe which takes place on December 12. Some people walk all the way, sometimes for weeks, from their homes to the main cathedral in Mexico City.
November 1st is All Saints Day and the following day is All Souls Day, or Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos. This festival, an opportunity to remember the dead, is considered by many to be the most important holiday of the year. Families build altars at home in honour of their dead. La Noche de Duelo or the Night of Mourning, is the beginning of the Day of the Dead. There is a candlelight procession to the cemetery, in which friends and relatives bring food and flowers, have a meal there, and decorate an altar in memory of the deceased. Families often spend the night beside the graves of loved ones. Relatives who have died are believed to return on this day to their grave sites. While associated with the dead, the holiday is not a sad event. On the contrary, it is a time of happiness, remembering and much celebration. Special foods and candy are prepared in the shape of tombs, skeletons and skulls. The year ends with the celebrations for Christmas and the New Year.
Did you know? From the Mexican National Anthem Should a foreign enemy profane your land with his sole, Think beloved fatherland, that heaven gave you a soldier in each son. Fatherland, fatherland, our children swear to exhale their breath in your cause, If the bugle in its belligerent tone should call upon them to struggle with bravery. For you the olive garlands! For them a memory of glory! For you a laurel of victory! For them a tomb of honor!