FESTIVALS

Day of the Dead

Mexico - November 1 and November 2 - 2 days

It's not every day you get to party with the dead, but on the first two days in November, all of Mexico does just that, as everything stops for the most

Festival of the Assumption of the Virgin

Huamantla, Mexico - August - 2 weeks

Pamplona's famous Fiesta de San Fermín is actually for wimps. Real men take part in a far more lethal version in the colonial Mexican city of Huamantla, a hundred miles' bumpy

Mazatlan Carnival

Mazatlan, Mexico - February - 5 days

The five crazy days of Carnival in Mazatlán is the time to see the city at its very best - and worst - when this usually bustling fishing port and low-key

San Marcos National Fair

Aguascalientes, Mexico - April - 3 weeks

Mexico's oldest fair, the Feria Nacional de San Marcos (www.feriadesanmarcos.com), pulls in thousands of revellers for three weeks of genial mayhem in the heartland town of Aguascalientes, particularly in

HOLIDAYS

March 21 - 24 Good Friday to Easter Monday

May 1 Labour Day

May 5 Battle of Puebla

September 1 President's address/Bank Holiday

September 16 Independence Day*

October 12 Dia de la Raza/Columbus Day - most places close

November 2 Dia de los Muertos. Most places close

November 20 Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution

December 12 Virgin of Guadalupe, Government and banks only

December 25 Christmas Day

*Independence was declared at Midnight so 15 and 16 September both count as part of the "Noche del Grito" or Shout of Freedom. Only the 16th is a holiday, however.

1Most businesses close though these are not official holidays. They are official for government and banks.