Abstract
This article highlights three key moments in the shaping and meaning of the current festive calendar in Mexico, which have contributed to the construction of national identity. These celebrations, which Nora refers to as ‘places of memory’, transmit memory from generation to generation and are in constant transformation. Through a historical and socio-political review, the article shows how some symbols have been replaced, based on the interests of those authorities in power or of society itself. The value of the text lies in the clarification of the origins and resignifications of certain key festivities, which allows a better understanding of the historical processes that shape the contemporary national memory.