I made a list of the major holidays in Mexico for 2009. Most people in Mexico get time off from work on these dates and many businesses are closed. Mexico is starting to follow the U.S. custom of celebrating non-religious national holidays in conjunction with a weekend so that people can have three days off from work. The people call these three consecutive days off at a weekend "un puente" or "a bridge". Where I work, the people usually work a half day on Saturday so when we have a "puente" they make up that time by working a full Saturday either the week before or the week after. Fortunately I don't have to work Saturdays anymore. When I had my sixtieth birthday my boss granted me Saturdays off from that day forward as a birthday present. I really appreciate that. Nice man! I get three weeks vacation also which I hardly ever take. Hmmm, maybe that is where the Saturdays off come from. Anyway, as you can see, this year we have seven "puentes". Hooray!!!
Here is the list. Note that the traditional date is given as well as the "puente" date:
Thursday, Jan 1 - New Year's Day (Año nuevo)
Monday, Feb 2 (Traditional Feb 5) - Anniversary 1917 Constitution
(Constitución Politica Mexicana de 1917)
Monday, Mar 16 (Traditional Mar 21) - Benito Juarez' Birthday
(Natalicio de Don Benito Juárez)
Thursday, Apr 9 - Holy Thursday (Jueves Santo)
Friday, Apr 10 - Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
Friday, May 1 - Labor Day (Día del Trabajo)
Wednesday, Sep 16 - Independence Day
(Día de la Independencia de Mexico)
Monday, Nov 2 - All Saint's Day (El Día de los Muertos)
Monday, Nov 16 (Traditional Nov 20) - Anniversary Revolution
(Aniversario de la Revolución Mexicana)
Saturday, Dec 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe
(Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe)
Friday, Dec 25 - Christmas Day (El Día deNavidad)
Interesting note: The Mexican Constitutions of 1824 and 1857 were both called "Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos" and the current Constitution of 1917 is called "Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos". I wonder why they changed the word "Federal" to "Politica". That is something that I will have to investigate further. Like Sarah Palin told Katie Couric..."Let me get back to you on that".
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14 January 2009
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About Me
- Bob Mrotek
- I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.
6 comments:
You know those holidays are in theory anyway...add those up with local excuses not to work and there are probably only about 140 work days a year, or less.
Growing up the work weeks were 6 days a week. Now they are 5 but I will bet you a cold beer that less work gets done. Just think of the inefficiency of workers in the US. Every time, not just sometimes, I would ever walk in to an office environment, the work station on the computer was a web page, not the companies program. The estimate is that the average worker spends 20% of the time surfing. I'll bet it's more.
Monday, Mar 16 is the "natación" de Don Benito Juárez? ¿A dónde nadó?, lol.
When I worked in Silicon Valley many moons ago, I always looked forward to my vacation days and any holidays I got. We get lazy if we have too much time off. Just ask me, I know.:)))Take care.
Ken, I don't know, 20% sounds about right. That's about how much time I spend goofing off when I should be working. Hey, lighten up a little :)
Alfredo,
Pienso que cuando El Benemérito fue bautizado el nadó en la pila. Oye, Alfredo, ¿recuerdas esta frase de tu niñez traviesa en Pueblo Nuevo?" - "Bomberito Juárez vendía tamales en las esquinas de los portales". Gracias para reportar mi evocación. Voy a corregirlo. Natación debe ser Natalicio.
Bob:
Nunca había escuchado esa frase. Solo aprendí que era un indio de Guelatao, en el estado de Oaxaca, huérfano, pastor y muy estudioso. Primer presidente indíena de México.
Indígena... perdón
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