Mexican Social Customs

The usual greeting is the handshake. Women often greet each other and men with a kiss on the cheek. There are a number of common verbal greetings, like “Buenos días,” “Buenas tardes,” and “Buenas noches” (for morning, afternoon, and evening, respectively), and “Cómo estás?” meaning “How are you?” A common informal greeting is the omnipresent “Hola!” (hello). To address men, the word “señor" is used, whereas “señorita" is used for women. You only use “señora” if you are certain a woman is married. If someone sneezes, the custom is to say “Salud,” to which the sneezing person replies, “Gracias.”

Unannounced visits are commonplace, and unexpected guests usually get a warm welcome. Not too much emphasis is put on punctuality, and meal invitations typically involve a fair amount of conversation before the meal is served. Post meal conversation can also go on for quite a while.

Mexico has many official holidays. Days when schools, businesses and/or government offices close include January 1 (New Year’s), Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Mother's Day (May 10), Day of the Dead (Nov. 2), Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Dec. 12) and Christmas (Dec. 25).

Soccer is the most popular sport in Mexico, followed by bullfighting, in terms of the number of spectators. Mexicans as a group also carry music close to their hearts and love dancing, and big events almost always have a mariachi band or other live music. Elaborate fireworks are also a common site on national holidays.

Mexican customs: food

In Mexico, the norm is to eat three meals a day: breakfast, late lunch (the main meal) and a light supper. This is fairly standard wherever you go, but there are exceptions as Mexico has absorbed customs from elsewhere, and you'll also find some variation in meal times depending on people’s occupations. On average, we can say that breakfast is between 7 and 10 in the morning, lunch between 2 and 5 p.m., and supper after 8.

Corn, beans, rice and chili peppers are Mexico’s staple foods. They’re often combined with spices and vegetables, and meat or fish. Mexican diet varies somewhat from region to region, but no matter where you go, you’ll find tortillas, spicy salsas and beans.

Tortas, quesadillas and tacos are also everywhere. For the uninitiated, tortas are sandwiches on fresh crusty bread with meat, cheese, avocado or whatever you feel like eating. Quesadillas are tortillas folded in half with melted cheese inside, and tacos are tortillas wrapped around beans, meat, salsa, rice… there really are no limits – you can pretty much make a taco of anything.

Mexican cuisine is immensely varied and uniformly delicious. You will find excellent restaurants where you can try pozole (a chicken or pork stew with hominy), enchiladas mineras (Guanajuato’s special red enchiladas with sautéed potatoes and carrots on the side), tamales, atole (hot corn drink, sweetened or unsweetened), birria (stewed goat), enfrijoladas (like enchiladas, but with a bean sauce), and much more.