November 20th marks the beginning of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The day is usually observed on a Monday to create a three-day weekend (what the Mexicans refer to as a "puente"... a bridge). This year November 20th falls on a Monday anyway, so Revolution Day is truly being celebrated on the correct date.
A banner along Juárez Avenue states that this is the 113th anniversary of the Revolution.
Yesterday, I went downtown and walked to the Zócalo, the city's central plaza.
Reviewing stands had been set up in front of the National Palace where dignitaries will watch Monday's military parade.
The Day of the Dead decorations are gone, and I think you can make out the portrait of revolutionary leader Pancho Villa in lights above 20 de Noviembre Avenue where it runs into the Zócalo. (This year is the centennial of Pancho Villa's death.)
For most Mexicans, however, this weekend is more important as the "Buen Fin", Mexico's version of Black Friday, the beginning of the Christmas shopping season when all the stores have special sales. You will see the "Buen Fin" sign in almost every shop window throughout the country.
"The cheapest weekend of the year"
And because the "Buen Fin" is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, you see signs of Christmas everywhere...
Hanging Christmas lights outside a restaurant along Insurgentes Avenue
A city worker putting poinsettias in the planter in the middle of Niños Héroes Avenue.
The thousands upon thousands of marigolds that decorated avenues for the Day of the Dead are being replaced by poinsettias, a flower that is native to Mexico.
A Nativity Scene in the window of one of the downtown department stores
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