And it is an official holiday. The exact date of the signing of the 1917 Mexican Constitution was February 5, but it is now celebrated on the first Monday of February to promote tourism on a long weekend. Banks and most government and private businesses close for the day, unless they want to pay triple salary to their employees. You have been warned.
The 1917 Constitution was promulgated in Santiago de Querétaro in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, and it is widely recognized for baking social rights into the country’s legal foundation. The big “this changes things” sections included education (Article 3), land and natural resources (Article 27), and labor protections (Article 123). In plain terms, it helped move Mexico away from a system that tolerated lopsided power, worker abuse, and deep inequality.
On the practical side, that “triple pay” warning is real-world labor law math. The Procuraduría Federal de la Defensa del Trabajo explains that if you work a mandatory rest day, you’re owed your normal daily wage plus a double wage for the service (yes, that adds up to three times the daily salary). So plan for slower paperwork, shorter business hours, and a lot of “we’ll do it Tuesday” energy across town.
