Giant Coca-Cola Christmas Tree Returns to Mark the Season’s Start

The glow of more than 100,000 multicolored lights will paint Mérida’s northern sky Saturday night when Bepensa flips the switch on the Coca-Cola Christmas tree, kicking off what has become one of Yucatán’s most anticipated holiday traditions.

The lighting ceremony begins at 7 p.m. in the Chedraui Selecto parking lot on Prolongación Paseo de Montejo, where the towering 40-meter (131-foot) structure will anchor a month-long celebration featuring live performances, carnival rides, and food stalls. The event marks the 28th year of a tradition that has woven itself into the fabric of Christmas in conservative, predominantly Catholic Yucatán.

“Operación Regalo,” this year’s Christmas show, brings together 50 artists from Mexico, Cuba, and Ukraine to perform on a stage at the base of the tree. Shows run Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 27.

The spectacle represents something uniquely Mexican. In a state where 84% of residents identify as Catholic and religious processions like las posadas still draw thousands, the Coca-Cola tree has become as much a part of the season as midnight Mass on Christmas Eve or the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.

That blend might seem contradictory to outsiders, but in Mexico, commercial and sacred elements have long coexisted during the Christmas season. While families attend Misa de Gallo at midnight and place nativity scenes in their homes, they also flock to corporate-sponsored events like Fantasilandia, the carnival surrounding the Coca-Cola tree.

Coca-Cola Tree Tradition

The tradition started in 1997 when Bepensa, the local Coca-Cola bottler, erected the first giant tree. What began as a marketing campaign has evolved into a community institution. Families arrive hours early to claim good viewing spots for the lighting ceremony, treating it with the same anticipation they might reserve for a religious festival.

This cultural synthesis reflects Mexico’s long history of adapting outside influences to local customs. Just as Spanish colonizers merged Catholic celebrations with indigenous winter solstice festivals centuries ago, modern Yucatecans have incorporated commercial Christmas imagery while maintaining deep religious traditions.

The Coca-Cola brand has played an outsized role in shaping global Christmas imagery. The company’s 1931 advertising campaign helped standardize the modern image of Santa Claus. That same red-suited figure now appears throughout Mérida during December, often standing alongside traditional Mexican Christmas symbols.

Critics have questioned this commercialization. A controversial 2015 Coca-Cola Christmas ad in Mexico drew accusations of cultural insensitivity when it depicted affluent young people bringing soda and a Christmas tree to an indigenous community. The company pulled the ad after widespread backlash.

But in Mérida, the annual tree lighting has taken on its own meaning, separate from corporate marketing. It serves as a gathering point for families across economic lines, a secular counterpart to religious celebrations that bookend the season.

The months-long Christmas period in Mexico officially begins Dec. 12 with the Virgin of Guadalupe’s feast day and extends through Feb. 2, culminating in Candlemas. Within that framework, events like the Coca-Cola tree lighting have found their place alongside posadas processions, nativity plays, and Three Kings Day on Jan. 6.

For Yucatecos, there’s no tension in attending both. The tree lighting might draw 50,000 people on a Saturday night, and many of those same families will be in church pews Sunday morning.

This ability to hold seemingly contradictory traditions simultaneously speaks to Mexican Catholicism’s flexibility. The same culture that maintains elaborate religious festivals has also embraced commercial Christmas customs, creating something distinctly local in the process.

As one Mérida resident put it, the tree has become part of how the city celebrates. Like the lights on Paseo de Montejo or the markets selling toys and decorations, it signals that the most important season of the year has arrived.

Event Details

• When: Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
• Where: Chedraui Selecto parking lot, Prolongación Paseo de Montejo (Fantasilandia)
• Tree height: 40+ meters (131+ feet)
• Lights: More than 100,000 multicolored bulbs
• Show: “Operación Regalo” with 50 international artists
• Performance schedule: Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 27
• Cost: Free admission