Mexican Revolution Day - third Monday of November, the 1910 uprising and 2006 reform

Mexican Revolution Day (Dia de la Revolucion) on the third Monday of November commemorates Francisco I. Madero's 1910 Plan de San Luis Potosi, the call to arms against Porfirio Diaz that began a six-year revolution and produced the 1917 Constitution still in force. The federal holiday was moved from its fixed historical date of November 20 to the third Monday of November by a 2006 decree that created a long-weekend puente.

The one-line summary

Mandatory national public holiday on the third Monday of November. Commemorates the start of the 1910 Mexican Revolution under the Plan de San Luis Potosi. Federal tier. Moved from the historical November 20 by a 2006 federal decree. Schools and many municipalities still mark the original November 20 with ceremonial events.

Origin

The Mexican Revolution began with Francisco I. Madero's Plan de San Luis Potosi, dated October 5, 1910 and circulated in early November 1910. The Plan called for an armed uprising on November 20, 1910 against the government of Porfirio Diaz, who had ruled Mexico continuously since 1884. Diaz had refused to allow a credible presidential challenger in the July 1910 election, jailing Madero in San Luis Potosi before the vote and then allowing him to slip across the US border to draft the Plan.

The Plan was scheduled for November 20, 1910. By that date large-scale fighting had already broken out under the leadership of Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa in Chihuahua. Diaz resigned on May 25, 1911 after his defeat at Ciudad Juarez. Madero was elected president in October 1911, signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juarez with the former Diaz officers, and attempted a moderate constitutional transition. The next phase of the revolution began on February 9, 1913, when Victoriano Huerta staged the Decena Tragica coup, overthrew Madero, and had him murdered on February 22, 1913.

The next seven years - the Huerta dictatorship, the Constitutionalist faction under Venustiano Carranza, the Zapatista Convention of Aguascalientes, the US intervention at Veracruz (1914), and the 1917 Constitution - are conventionally grouped as the Mexican Revolution. The civil war ended de facto in 1920 with the Plan de Agua Prieta that overthrew Carranza; he was succeeded by Adolfo de la Huerta, Alvaro Obregon, and (after Obregon's 1928 assassination) the Party of the Institutionalised Revolution (PRI) that governed Mexico until 2000. The 1917 Constitution drafted at the Constitutionalist convention in Queretaro remains the constitution of Mexico.

When it falls

Mexican Revolution Day falls on the third Monday of November each year. The federal holiday creates a long weekend - a puente - with Saturday and Sunday on either side. When the third Monday is at the beginning or end of the month it can fall close to the historical November 20 date. In 2026 the holiday falls on November 16; in 2027 on November 15; in 2028 the third Monday lands on November 20 itself.

How it is observed

The Desfile de la Revolucion is held in Mexico City, with the Mexican Armed Forces parading along the Paseo de la Reforma. The parade features historical reenactments of the revolution's key figures - Francisco Madero, Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, Carmen Serdan, and others - and civic ceremonies in state capitals. Banks, federal offices, and most private businesses close for the day.

Civic and educational events are widely organized. Schools hold actos civicos with student readings of revolutionary documents, the Plan de San Luis Potosi and the 1917 Constitution. Family outings, regional fairs, and long-weekend tourism fill the puente: domestic tourism peaks on the Revolution Day weekend, which is one of the three principal long weekends of the Mexican calendar alongside the Buenas vacaciones puente (Pentecost Monday) and the cinco de Mayo-based puente of May 5 (only in some states).

Legal status

The third Monday of November is a mandatory national public holiday in Mexico under Article 74 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (Federal Labour Law), which lists it as "el tercer lunes de noviembre en commemoracion del 20 de noviembre de 1910." The 2006 decree moved the holiday from a fixed November 20 to the third Monday; the reform took effect for the first time on November 20, 2006 itself (which was the third Monday of November that year). The reform was later folded into the LFT itself. Employees who do work on the day are entitled to triple pay.

Regional variations

Observance is officially uniform, but a number of states hold additional commemorations on the historical November 20. In the state of Chiapas the holiday is observed separately by educational authorities and is sometimes honored with regional Mayan-language ceremonies. The state of Morelos emphasises Emiliano Zapata's Plan de Ayala (November 25, 1911) in regional events. Schools under the federal SEP calendar frequently hold actos civicos and reenactments on or near November 20 even when that date is not the federal holiday, and state-level museums (notably the Museo Nacional de la Revolucion in Mexico City) organise exhibitions on the historical date. Sonora and a handful of other states observe a holiday on November 16 instead of the regular Mexican Independence Day (handled separately); some northern municipalities stagger local civic events between the federal Revolution Day and historical November 20.

History of the 2006 date move

The shift from fixed November 20 to the third Monday of November was signed by President Felipe Calderon hours after his December 1, 2006 inauguration. The decree was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion on the same day. The first observance under the new rule fell on November 20, 2006 (which coincidentally was the third Monday); the change first produced a noticeably earlier holiday in 2007, when the third Monday of November fell on November 19. The reform was part of a broader package of labour- law adjustments, with supporters citing tourism and bridge-weekend economics and critics calling the change a commercialisation of the historical date.

Critics include Mexican historians, the Colegio Nacional de Historiadores, and former officials who argued that the move erodes the symbolic weight of November 20. The defenders, including the federal tourism ministry (Secretaria de Turismo) and the CCE employers' confederation, argued that bridge weekends lift hotel occupancy in tourism-dependent states. No federal administration has reversed the reform. Schools under SEP and most state governments keep the symbolic date of November 20 visible in civic calendars and school event programming even though the federal holiday itself now falls on the third Monday.

Mexican Revolution Day by the numbers

The revolution and the 1917 Constitution

The Mexican Revolution's most durable legacy is the 1917 Constitution signed at the Constitutionalist convention in Queretaro under President Venustiano Carranza. The 1917 Constitution introduced Article 27 (restoring lands and waters to the nation and making ejidos possible) and Article 123 (the social rights of labour: the eight-hour day, the right to organise, profit-sharing, and severance). Both articles remain in force, though amended many times. The Constitution outlived the revolutionaries who wrote it; it remains the legal frame of the Mexican state and is the only constitution Mexico has had since 1917.

The revolution in Mexican memory

The revolution is commemorated differently across regions. In the north (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon) the popular memory centers on Francisco Villa, Pascual Orozco, and the 1910-1911 northern campaign. In Morelos and central Mexico, the Emiliano Zapata commemorations and the display of his distinctive machete dominate the civic imagery. In Mexico City, state museums and the National Museum of the Revolution (in the former Casa de los Camilos) anchor public memory. Muralists of the post-revolutionary period - Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco - turned the revolution into the visual language of the Mexican state, a tradition renewed through public-school poster cycles.

Sources

• Government of Mexico (Gobierno de Mexico), Fiestas Patrias and the Mexican Revolution: gob.mx/fiestaspatrias.
• Secretariat of Tourism (SECTUR), tourism impact of puente bridge weekends: gob.mx/sectur.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Mexican Revolution" and "Plan de San Luis Potosi": britannica.com/event/Mexican-Revolution.
• Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP), 1917 Constitution educational materials: gob.mx/sep.
• Diario Oficial de la Federacion, decree of November 17, 2006 moving the Revolution Day holiday to the third Monday of November: dof.gob.mx.

Key facts at a glance

• Date: Third Monday of November (nth-weekday)
• Category: Federal
• Country: Mexico
• Public holiday: Yes, mandatory national
• Established: Holiday on November 20 from 1917; moved to third Monday by 2006 decree
• Commemorates: Plan de San Luis Potosi (October 5, 1910) and the start of the revolution
• Historical pivot: November 20, 1910 - the original armed-uprising date
• Legacy document: The 1917 Mexican Constitution

Mexican Revolution Day FAQs

• When is Mexican Revolution Day? The third Monday of November every year.
• What is the historical November 20 date? The original fixed date of the federal holiday before the 2006 reform.
• Who started the revolution? Francisco I. Madero, with the Plan de San Luis Potosi on October 5, 1910.
• What did the revolution produce? The 1917 Constitution, which remains in force.
• Is it a long weekend? Yes - the third-Monday placement creates a puente (long weekend).

Revolution and the rule of law

The revolution's official legacy is constitutional, not insurgent: the modern Mexican state traces its institutional legitimacy to the 1917 Constitution. Article 27 (agrarian reform) was substantially amended under the 1992 reforms; Article 123 (labour rights) was reformed in 2019 to replace the old system of seniority-based union democracy with a new labour-court structure. The revolution's heroes (Madero, Carranza, Obregon, Calles, Cardenas) are reframed in modern SEP curricula as the founders of Mexico's social-democratic institutions rather than as violent insurgents. Revolution Day is, in practice, a civic and constitutional holiday more than a partisan one.