By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Venezuela entered October on Thursday without a presidential decree moving Christmas celebrations months ahead of the traditional holiday season, marking a break from one of the more unusual practices of former President Nicolás Maduro’s nearly 13 years in power.
Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chávez after the longtime socialist leader’s death in 2013, repeatedly ordered government institutions and public spaces to begin Christmas festivities in October or November. Chávez had publicly designated Maduro as his successor during his final major appearance on Dec. 8, 2012, a date later commemorated by supporters of the Chávez movement as the “Day of Loyalty and Love”. Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in Caracas on Jan. 3, 2026, and interim President Delcy Rodríguez has led the country since his removal.
Maduro began advancing Venezuela’s official Christmas celebrations during his first year as president. In November 2013, he ordered the holiday season to begin early, establishing a pattern he would repeat through much of his presidency. Public agencies, plazas and other state-controlled locations were often directed to install decorations and begin government-sponsored Christmas events weeks before the traditional December season.
The practice became especially pronounced in Maduro’s final years. In September 2025, he declared that Christmas would officially begin Oct. 1, saying the early celebration would promote happiness, commerce and culture.
The government marked the beginning of that season with a fireworks display over El Helicoide in Caracas. The building has long housed intelligence and security services and has been the subject of extensive allegations of torture and abuse by political prisoners and human-rights organizations; Venezuelan activists continued to describe the facility as an active detention and torture center this year.
Maduro went even further in December 2025, when he declared that 2026 had “already started” before the calendar year had ended. Weeks later, U.S. forces removed him from power. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have remained in U.S. custody while facing federal criminal proceedings.
Rodríguez’s government has given no indication that it intends to continue Maduro’s practice of officially moving Christmas into October. Instead, Rodríguez referred this week to Christmas festivities taking place in December while discussing domestic food production. Venezuelan reporting confirms that her government has not announced an early Christmas season for 2026.
Rodríguez said that “for the first time in many years” all of the pernil expected to be consumed during this year’s Christmas festivities would come from domestic producers. Pernil, a slow-roasted pork shoulder, is a centerpiece of many Venezuelan Christmas meals and is traditionally served alongside hallacas, pan de jamón and Venezuelan chicken salad. A traditional preparation of Venezuelan pernil typically marinates and slowly roasts the pork before serving.
The announcement carried particular significance because pernil became difficult for many Venezuelans to obtain during the country’s severe economic collapse. Shortages became especially contentious during the 2017 Christmas season, when Maduro blamed foreign countries for “sabotaging” Venezuela’s pernil supply, an allegation for which he presented no public evidence.
Maduro’s repeated manipulation of the Christmas calendar often coincided with periods of political or economic pressure. In 2024, he again moved the start of Christmas to October following the disputed July 28 presidential election and the government crackdown that followed. Maduro described the early festivities as an expression of “gratitude” after claiming to have “won” the election, a result rejected by the opposition and questioned internationally.
Similar government-directed changes occurred in 2019, when Christmas celebrations were advanced to November; in 2020, when Maduro announced an Oct. 15 start; and again in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The recurring decrees sometimes drew objections from Venezuelan Catholic leaders, who argued that Christmas and Advent should retain their religious meaning rather than be used as instruments of government policy. Relations between the Chávez-Maduro governments and Venezuela’s Catholic hierarchy were frequently contentious. Maduro attacked bishops who criticized his government and in 2018 referred to some clergy as “devils in cassocks”.
The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela also generated controversy in 2014 when activists adapted the Lord’s Prayer into a tribute to Chávez, further illustrating the movement’s use of religious imagery surrounding the late president.
Venezuela remains overwhelmingly Christian, with Christmas Day still observed on Dec. 25. What has changed in 2026 is the absence, so far, of a presidential order declaring the holiday season underway months early.
Rodríguez’s reference to Christmas “in December” and her government’s lack of an October decree mark a visible departure from Maduro’s recurring practice. Whether that change becomes permanent remains to be seen, but for now Venezuela is entering the final months of the year without another government-mandated early Christmas.
Original article
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