The triumph of the Tuxtepec Revolt that brought Díaz to power compelled him to search for legitimacy by upholding traditional republican state ceremonies such as the civic procession. Complying with national law, solemn inaugural ceremonies were held every time Díaz was reelected. Public officials, members of patriotic societies, and elites came from all over the republic to take part in formal civic manifestations. Leading bankers, businessmen, and industrialists organized parades, banquets, and fireworks displays in Díaz's honor. Most notably, the Círculo de Amigos de Díaz and the Círculo Nacional Porfirista, organizations devoted to keeping the general in power, coordinated the students, urban professionals, business owners, and bureaucrats who marched in support of Díaz every April 2, the anniversary of his siege of Puebla in 1867. Workers' associations routinely demonstrated their loyalty to Díaz by staging processions. In 1887, over 10,000 members of the Gran Congreso Obrero marched in a show of support for Díaz's reelection, and 34,000 select delegates participated in the Independence Day parade. In an attempt to co-opt labor, Federal District governor Guillermo Landa y Escandín established the Sociedad Mutualista y Moralizadora, the membership of which staged a pro-Díaz demonstration in April 1910. The patriotic march involved 5,000 workers from various Federal District factories.

From 1878 to 1887, important civic marches also took place every February 5, the anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857. Díaz naturally promoted the legality of his own regime by endorsing the patriotic activities held on this date. The celebration of Constitution Day soared practically overnight after Díaz returned to power in 1884. In 1885 city councilmen and patriotic societies hired a musical band and invited delegates of mutual and workers' societies, students of the national schools, and the original signers (Constituyentes) of the Constitution of 1857 to march from the Alameda to the San Fernando Cemetery. Conspicuous on this day was the horse-drawn allegorical car representing Law, which carried a silver wreath that students later deposited at Benito Juárez's tomb. Rarely did the military participate in Constitution Day marches, which emphasized the ideals of popular liberalism and civilian rule. In reality, Constitution Day was less an occasion to commemorate the national charter than to exalt Juárez, its principal defender, who embodied these ideals. In 1887 Congress declared July 18, the anniversary of Juárez's death, a national holiday, displacing Constitution Day as the most important day of civilian procession. Thereafter, the celebration of February 5 was reduced to short speeches in the Alameda, while July 18 occasioned enormous civilian processions headed by Díaz in black homburg and topcoat.