:format(jpeg):focal(145x182:155x172)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gfrmedia/J7V5KOK2N5AM5F65YS2NYRZ444.png "The only country in Latin America that has not celebrated Christmas Day for more than 100 years")
Latin America is a predominantly Catholic and Christian region due to the influence of Spanish colonization. Christmas is a celebration of Christian origin that aims to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.
This celebration of religious origin is part of the traditional festivals that are most popular in the region, however, there is a country in Latin America that “eliminated” Christmas and other religious festivals a century ago.
This is Uruguay, the country that, although it maintains holidays, stopped celebrating Christmas officially. In this nation, December 25 is a holiday but for the celebration of Family Day.
This decision was made in 1919 in obedience to the principle of the 1918 Constitution, plebiscited in 1917, which established Uruguay as a secular country, therefore, obeying the separation of the State and the Church, the Latin American country maintained the holidays, but it stopped institutionally recognizing the religious reason behind them.
As in the case of Christmas, Easter is not celebrated either, but Tourism week; On Three Kings Day, Children’s Day is celebrated, and the Day of the Virgin Mary is replaced by Beach Day.
However, this does not mean that they are prohibited celebrations, because in the streets, and those who wish, celebrate Christmas on December 24 and follow traditions such as decorating with lights and recognizing this celebration as a holiday of Christian origin.