Saturday, December 12, 2026 is the feast of the Virgen de Guadalupe. It is not a national public holiday. In Guatemala City, the celebration brings vendors, photo stands and fireworks around the Santuario de Guadalupe in zona 1; last year, in 2025, its procession left in the early afternoon and returned at midnight. 45 days away as of today.
Quick summary: Saturday, December 12, 2026. Not a paid holiday (Labor Code Art. 127). Main site: Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, 8a calle and 1a avenida, zona 1; second busiest, the Villa de Guadalupe, zona 10. 2025 procession: out at 13:00, Catedral Metropolitana at 15:00, back at 24:00. 2025 closures: Avenida Elena to 3a avenida, 9a calle A to 6a calle, from 8 PM on the 11th and all of the 12th. Children come dressed as inditos, for Juan Diego. No 2026 programme or traffic plan was identified in the sources checked on 24 October 2026; watch the Santuario de Guadalupe for its programme and the Municipalidad de Guatemala / PMT for traffic notices, with the municipal Santuario page as a location reference.
As of 24 October 2026, the sources we checked had not yet published any of the following for 2026: the Santuario’s programme (dates, Mass times, and the procession’s departure and return); the PMT’s closure dates, times, perimeter and staffing; Transmetro and Tu Bus changes, hours and fares; any entry fee or the hours of the food stalls; the PNC and PROVIAL plan; and shuttle services, timetables and fares; this page will be updated when the Santuario and the authorities publish them.
2026 at a glance
| Date | Saturday, December 12, 2026 (the eve is Friday, December 11) |
| Paid holiday? | No: December 12 is not in Labor Code Art. 127 |
| Main church | Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, 8a calle and 1a avenida, zona 1, Guatemala City |
| Second church | Villa de Guadalupe, zona 10 (La Hora, 2024) |
| Procession (2025) | 13:00 to 24:00, through zona 1; the PMT said it could extend into zona 3 |
| Closures (2025) | Total, 24 hours on December 12, Avenida Elena to 3a avenida, 9a calle A to 6a calle, zona 1 |
| Admission | Free (the 2025 procession) |
Where it is and getting there
The Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is at 8a calle and 1a avenida, zona 1, in Guatemala City’s Centro Histórico. La Hora’s 2024 guide gives its street address as 1a Avenida 8-77, zona 1. The Villa de Guadalupe in zona 10 is a different church. Check the PMT notices before setting out; the transport information below describes last year, 2025.
Where to stay nearby
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The Santuario’s procession: the 2025 timetable
The Santuario de Guadalupe published its official poster for December 12, 2025, reproduced by Prensa Libre. This is last year’s schedule, a historical reference rather than a confirmed 2026 itinerary:
| Time (2025) | Point on the route |
|---|---|
| 13:00 | Leaves the Santuario (8a calle and 1a avenida, zona 1) |
| 14:30 | Santa Catalina |
| 15:00 | Enters the Catedral Metropolitana |
| 16:30 | Leaves the Catedral |
| 17:15 | San Sebastián |
| 17:45 | Templo de la Recolección |
| 18:45 | 4a calle A and Avenida Elena, zona 1 |
| 20:00 | 3a calle and Avenida Elena, zona 1 |
| 21:00 | Parque El Sauce |
| 22:45 | Mercado El Sauce |
| 24:00 | Returns to the Santuario |
The 2025 procession carried the consagrada imagen de Santa María de Guadalupe and admission was free. In 2024, La Hora reported the Santuario’s day as serenades and four ordinary masses, with the pre-procession protocol starting at 14:30 that year. The reported 2024 times were:
| Time (2024) | Activity reported by La Hora |
|---|---|
| 00:15 | First mass |
| 06:30 | Temple doors open |
| 07:00 | Second mass |
| 09:00 | Third mass |
| 12:00 | Fourth mass |
| 14:30 | Protocol before the procession |
Closures and transport around the Santuario
What the Policía Municipal de Tránsito (PMT) did in 2025, per its spokesman Amílcar Montejo (La Hora, Prensa Libre, Emisoras Unidas):
- December 10, from 8:00 PM: vendors’ stalls start going up around the church.
- December 11: one lane open around the church; from 8:00 PM, total closure from Avenida Elena to 3a avenida, between 9a calle A and 6a calle, zona 1.
- December 12: the closure stayed in place for all 24 hours; vehicles could use Avenida Elena and 3a avenida but not the streets in between. 90 agents were assigned across multiple activities at churches in zonas 1, 10 and 16; that was not a visitor count or staffing solely for this Santuario.
- Early December 13: municipal crews start removing the stalls and traffic returns gradually.
- Public transport (2025): Transmetro line 7 and Tu Bus routes 105 and 802 changed their routes, with a temporary station on Avenida Elena between 8a and 9a calles.
- Alternate routes (2025): the PMT recommended 24 calle behind the Teatro Nacional, Avenida Elena for north–south travel, Bulevar La Asunción for connections to the Centro Histórico, and the 1a calle corridor in zona 2 linking the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Cerrito del Carmen, Templo La Candelaria and colonia 10 de Mayo (La Hora, December 11, 2025).
In 2026 the 11th is a Friday and the 12th a Saturday. Follow the Municipalidad de Guatemala / PMT notices before travelling; the closures above describe last year, 2025.
The other churches
La Hora’s 2024 guide to the city’s Guadalupe churches:
- Villa de Guadalupe, zona 10: the city’s second most visited church on the day and the day before; rezado from December 11. Its 2024 procession carried a message inspired by the apparition to Juan Diego’s uncle.
- Parroquia El Espíritu Santo, zona 11 (Las Charcas): special masses, serenades, a torito, folk dances and moros on December 11 and 12.
- La Recolección, Esquipulitas (zona 11) and Santa María del Tepeyac (zona 21, Colonia Guajitos) also hold activities.
Outside the capital: Chichicastenango’s municipal calendar lists a procession and the change of the Virgen de Guadalupe’s cofradía on December 12, during its Santo Tomás feria.
Around the Santuario: stands, photos and fireworks
La Hora (2024) describes the scene around the Santuario in zona 1: stalls of traditional food, photo stands where families pose with horses, other animals and the image of the Virgin, fireworks, bombas and the traditional torito, and alfombras decorating the streets.
The children dressed as inditos
The most photographed custom of the day is the children. La Hora (2024) describes families bringing their children dressed in traditional-style outfits to be photographed at the ranchitos and horses, the boys representing San Juan Diego.
The custom has a critic worth reading before you take the photo. Sandra Xinico Batz, a Maya Kaqchikel anthropologist from Patzún, wrote in La Hora (December 2015) that:
- The tradition in Guatemala says children must be dressed as inditos and presented to the Virgin for a set number of consecutive years: 3, 7, 12, or as the family decides.
- The boys’ outfit is a manta shirt and trousers, a red sash and a red kerchief with white dots, with a hat, sandals, gourds, a carrying strap (mecapal) and a net bag, and a moustache drawn with eyeliner; the girls’ is a pleated skirt and a huipil-style blouse, with baskets, painted cheeks and lips and a drawn beauty mark.
- Citing historian Arturo Taracena, the practice of dressing children as inditos developed in Guatemala in the 19th century.
- In her view it is a costume built on stereotypes about Indigenous people, not the dress Maya communities wear, and one practised mostly by Ladino and mestizo families; she argues that the girls’ costume does not resemble the clothes Maya girls wear.
Why December 12
December 12 is not a national paid holiday under Article 127 of the Labor Code; in December that article covers the afternoons of the 24th and 31st and the 25th, plus the day of the local festivity.
Historian Alejandro Cóbar, quoted by Prensa Libre in 2025, counts five apparitions of the Virgen de Guadalupe to Juan Diego in 1531: the first two on December 9, a third on the 10th and the last two on December 12, the date the feast commemorates.
For the diaspora
- Calling family at the Santuario: Guatemala has not used daylight saving time since 2006 (IANA time zone database) and the US is on standard time in December, so last year’s 2025 13:00 procession start corresponded to 1:00 PM Central, 2:00 PM Eastern and 11:00 AM Pacific.
- The rest of the month (posadas from December 16, Nochebuena, New Year) is on our Christmas in Guatemala guide.
Sources
Prensa Libre, Procesión de la Virgen de Guadalupe 2025: hora y recorrido en el Centro Histórico, December 11, 2025 (reproducing the Santuario de Guadalupe’s official poster; Alejandro Cóbar).
La Hora, PMT closures and alternate routes, December 10 and 11, 2025; Emisoras Unidas, Transmetro changes, December 12, 2025.
La Hora, Virgen de Guadalupe: ubicación y actividades de templos, December 11, 2024.
Sandra Xinico Batz, La Hora, December 11, 2015.
Municipalidad de Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, Política Cultural Municipal (2023).
Código de Trabajo, Article 127.
IANA time zone database (America/Guatemala) for the time-zone note.
La Hora: PMT total closure around the Santuario de Guadalupe, December 10, 2025
La Hora: Virgen de Guadalupe churches and activities, December 11, 2024
Prensa Libre: Virgen de Guadalupe procession 2025, time and route
Centro Histórico (municipal): Santuario Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Linked sources accessed 23 October 2026.
Related
- Christmas in Guatemala — the December calendar
- Quema del Diablo — December 7
- Las Posadas — December 16-24
- Guatemala events calendar
- Guatemala holidays
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe in Guatemala in 2026?
Saturday, December 12, 2026. The date is fixed: historian Alejandro Cóbar, quoted by Prensa Libre, places the first two apparitions to Juan Diego on December 9, 1531, the third on the 10th and the last two on the 12th. The eve, December 11, is also busy: La Hora reported the Villa de Guadalupe in zona 10 holding its rezado from December 11 in 2024.
Is December 12 a public holiday in Guatemala?
No. December 12 is not on the list of paid holidays in Article 127 of the Labor Code, which in December covers only the afternoons of the 24th and 31st and the 25th, plus the day of the local festivity.
Where is the main celebration in Guatemala City?
At the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, 8a calle and 1a avenida, zona 1. La Hora called it the epicentre of the festivities in 2024, and named the Villa de Guadalupe in zona 10 as the city’s second most visited church on the day and the day before. The Santuario’s procession left at 13:00 on December 12, 2025 and returned at midnight.
What streets are closed around the Santuario de Guadalupe?
In 2025 the Policía Municipal de Tránsito closed the area from Avenida Elena to 3a avenida, between 9a calle A and 6a calle of zona 1, from 8:00 PM on December 11 through the 24 hours of December 12, after a one-lane partial closure on the 11th. Vendors’ stalls started going up at 8:00 PM on December 10. Transmetro line 7 and Tu Bus routes 105 and 802 were adjusted, with a temporary stop on Avenida Elena between 8a and 9a calles. Follow the Municipalidad de Guatemala / PMT notices for the 2026 plan; the closures above describe 2025.
Why are children dressed as inditos on December 12?
Families bring children dressed as inditos, representing Juan Diego, to be blessed by the Virgin, and photograph them at the ranchitos and horses set up around the churches (La Hora, 2024). Maya Kaqchikel anthropologist Sandra Xinico Batz wrote in La Hora (2015) that the custom says children should be dressed this way for a set number of consecutive years (3, 7, 12 or as the family decides), that the practice developed in Guatemala in the 19th century according to historian Arturo Taracena, and that the outfit is a costume built on stereotypes rather than the dress Maya communities actually wear.
