“Mientras que ustedes no dejen de aplaudir, yo no dejo de cantar” (As long as you do not stop applauding, I do not stop singing). The ranchera singer Vicente Fernández said this to his audiences at his concerts. He also said it when the press asked him about leaving the stage.
On April 16, 2016, he gave his farewell concert at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. According to Publimetro, he sang for more than four hours, around 60 songs, until the early morning of April 17. (Video in Spanish.)
In El laberinto de la soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude), published in 1950, Octavio Paz writes about the Mexican fiesta in the chapter “Todos santos, día de muertos” (All Saints, Day of the Dead). At the fiesta, he writes, “el tiempo suspende su carrera, hace un alto” (time suspends its course and comes to a halt).
The fiesta, in his words, offers “un presente redondo y perfecto, de danza y juerga” (a round and perfect present, of dance and revelry). “El tiempo deja de ser sucesión” (Time stops being a succession).
Every year, the Teletón raises money for rehabilitation centers for children in Mexico. In 2025, the broadcast passed its goal of more than 420 million pesos in the early hours of Sunday, after 17 hours on the air, according to La Razón.
In 2026, the Teletón was held on Saturday, October 10. Its close was scheduled for 9 p.m. The broadcast continued until 1 a.m. on Sunday, N+ reported. The final figure was 429,156,232 pesos.
In December 2013, Mexico’s Senate debated the energy reform. Expansión called it “un debate maratónico” (a marathon debate). The session began at about 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and ended at about 9:30 a.m. The newspaper Zeta Tijuana wrote of a debate of “casi 20 horas” (almost 20 hours).
On September 10, 2024, Mexico’s Senate was debating the reform of the judiciary. At 4 p.m., protesters entered the Senate building. The senators moved to the Casona de Xicoténcatl and continued there. (Video in Spanish.)
The vote on the details of the reform came after 4 in the morning, Expansión reported. In the general vote, the reform passed with 86 votes in favor and 41 against.
In a booklet published by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal, the researcher David Recondo describes community assemblies in Chiapas, drawing on Lenkersdorf’s work among the Tojolabal. The assemblies “pueden durar horas y horas” (can last hours and hours). “Luego de varias horas de discusiones, las voces acaban por extinguirse una a una” (After several hours of discussion, the voices die out one by one). Then the authority announces the decision.
The same text notes that in Oaxaca, assembly practices today depart from the logic of consensus.
¡Provecho!, short for buen provecho, means “enjoy your meal.” In Mexico, people say it to strangers, to the diners at nearby tables when they leave a restaurant. Matador Network, in a Spanish-language list of Mexican customs, calls it a wish “regalada entre extraños” (given between strangers).
In an article on whether saying provecho is bad manners, the news site Sopitas calls it “una manera sutil de desearle el bienestar a un desconocido” (a subtle way of wishing a stranger well).
¿Qué mala cara has visto? “What bad face have you seen?” The magazine Chilango describes the rule for when a guest gets up to leave. The host asks: “¿Qué? ¿Por qué te vas? ¿A dónde vas que mejor te traten? ¿Qué mala cara has visto?” (What? Why are you leaving? Where are you going where they treat you better? What bad face have you seen?)
The guest must answer: “Noooo, si estaba muy a gusto, lo que pasa es que tengo prisa” (Nooo, I was having a great time, it is just that I am in a hurry). According to the grandparents, Chilango writes, the host keeps acting offended until the guest stays a little longer.
In July 2026, El Imparcial reported on a video that spread on social media. A young man walks into an establishment and says “Buenos días.” Only one man answers, quietly. The young man raises his voice: “¡Buenos días!” Then he says: “Si uno entra y dice buenos días, respondan buenos días” (If someone comes in and says good morning, answer good morning).
His closing comment won over thousands of users. One wrote: “Le dio una clase de educación a todo el local” (He gave the whole place a lesson in manners).
The Mexico City government’s guide for visitors advises a greeting “antes de hacer o decir algo, en cualquier entorno” (before doing or saying anything, in any setting). It is “Buenos días” before 11 a.m. and “Buenas tardes” until nightfall. The guide calls this “algo cultural” (something cultural).
The greeting comes before buying something, on entering an elevator, to taxi drivers, and before asking for directions.