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Mexico is a country off the coast of America and is about 761,000 square miles. Mexico has many beautiful beaches, historical monuments, and ancient temples. Mexico has a population of about 128 million people. among the many tourist attractions in Mexico, it also has some amazing food.

Chocolate was invented in Mexico and for them, I will be eternally grateful. Mexico is amazing for its rich culture and amazing food.

On top of all of that, Mexico has some wonderful music. One such style is mariachi, which is a festive music style often played at Mexican weddings, parties, and just about anything festive. While new songs are always being invented, just about every mariachi band knows all of the same classic songs. These songs will never be forgotten. Recently, Mexico elected its first female president. this is a huge step for mexicos government.

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Mexico has many traditions and celebrations but my two favorites are Dia de los Muertos and la Navidad. Day of the dead originated from indigenous tried traditions to honer their dead. traditions include building on Offrenda and a huge parade. an offrenda contains pictures of loved ones and food offerings to the dead. the spirits of deceased children are believed to visit at midnight on the 31st. The spirits of deceased adults are said to visit on midnight of November 1st. on the day of the dead, there is a large parade where everyone gathers and celebrates the lives of all who have passed away and people paint their faces and wear costumes.

Another holiday celebrated in Mexico is Christmas or la Navidad. La navidad's origin was rooted in the introduction of catholicism by Spanish priests in the 16th century. On Christmas Mexican families put out a nativity. they also have star-shaped pinatas the star represents satan and the stick represents the Christian faith.

christmas in mexico actually lasts a very long time. it lasts from december 12th to january 6th with another celebration on febuary 2nd.

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Week 3 Traditions and the flavor of the holidays.

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Week 3 Traditions and the flavor of the holidays.

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In Mexico, Christmas is a big holiday with many fun traditions. during Christmas, Mexican streets are decorated with colorful paper cutouts that create festive patterns and scenes. Christmas trees are common and are decorated like ours with lights and ornaments. las posadas is a tradition lasting nine nights it recreates Mary and Joseph's journey to the inn. each evening everyone gathers for a precession children or adults dress up as Mary or Joseph and are told there is no room for them in the inn until the last day when they are finally let in. Also, there is a midnight church service where everyone goes to celebrate the story of Jesus. (I watched a video on YouTube called: Christmas traditions of Mexico)

For Christmas foods, they eat tamales which are meat wrapped in dough and then wrapped in a corn shell. another food is pozole which is a thick soup made of chicken, pork, and chilies, and garnished with radishes and greens. Pozole is often served on Christmas Eve. A very popular Mexican Christmas drink is champurrado. it is made with ground cacao beans and ground corn masa. the food that sounded the best to me was bunuelos. they are a sweet treat made from dough rolled and fried then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

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Overall Mexico has very festive holidays with fun and meaningful traditions. One of the best things about Mexican holidays is that for Christmas they make sure to center the holiday about what we are lacking in American Christmas today. They center it around the story of Jesus' birth. that is what we do differently today. Christmas in America is all about Santa and presents but we don't realize what the original intent was made to be about Jesus' birth. I appreciate that Mexico has kept its Christmas pure and made it about the right things.

Mexico's culture is way more rich than ours. That may sound rude but here's why: Mexico has way more traditions than us that don't always focus on just gifts or scaring people like we do on Christmas and Halloween. On Christmas they center it on Jesus' birth and how he came here. on Halloween, it's completely different. Everyone dresses up and puts up ofrendas to remember with joy the people they once loved. Mexico has wonderful and festive holidays. I wish we could make our holidays about family and spending time with those we love a little more and put away some of the junk in our holidays that make it about something else. Mexico keeps their holidays pure and I respect that.