Cry of Dolores

This article is about about the historical event that led Mexico to independence. For the commemorative date, see Independence Day (Mexico).

Cry of Dolores
A statue of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in front of the church in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato
Observed by	Mexico
Significance	Commemorates the start of the Mexican War of Independence, by repeating the words of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the early morning of 16 September 1810
Date	16 September
Next time	16 September 2026 (2026-09-16)
Frequency	Annual

The Cry of Dolores ^{[n 1]} (Spanish: Grito de Dolores) occurred in Dolores, Mexico, on 16 September 1810, when Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell and gave the call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence. The Cry of Dolores is most commonly known by the locals as El Grito de Independencia (The Independence Cry).

Every year on the eve of Independence Day, the president of Mexico re-enacts the cry from the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City while ringing the same bell Hidalgo used in 1810. During the patriotic speech, the president calls out the names of the fallen heroes who died during the War of Independence and ends the speech by shouting "¡Viva México!" three times, followed by the Mexican National Anthem.

History

Close-up of the balcony where the president of Mexico gives the annual 'Grito de Dolores' on Independence Day

President Claudia Sheinbaum leading the ceremony on the main balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City on September 15, 2025. Sheinbaum is the first woman in Mexican history to lead the ceremony.

Image extracted from the book by Vicente Riva Palacio and Julio Zárate (1880) "México a través de los siglos" Tomo III: "La Guerra de Independencia" (1808–1821)

In the 1810s, what would become Mexico was still New Spain, part of the Spanish crown. Following Napoleon's overthrow of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy in 1808, Spain's American possessions rose in rebellion, refusing to accept Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as king. In New Spain, the criollo leadership attempted to set a course of autonomy in support of the legitimate heir to the throne, Ferdinand VII, but the peninsular elite, fearing the loss of the colony, carried out a coup, also in the name of Ferdinand. Almost immediately, groups of creoles formed various plots around the viceroyalty, including in Querétaro, of which Father Hidalgo became a part. When the plot was discovered in early September 1810, some plotters decided to proceed with the uprising. ^[1] Around 2:30 am on 16 September 1810, Hidalgo ordered the church bells to be rung and gathered his congregation. Flanked by Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, he addressed the people in front of his church, urging them to revolt. His speech became known as the "Cry of Dolores". ^[2]

The liberated country adopted Mexico as its official name. Mexico's independence from Spain took a decade of war. Independence was achieved by the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire 11 years and 12 days later, on 28 September 1821. However, Hidalgo is credited as being the "father of his country". ^[3]

Exact words and meaning

Scholars have not been able to reach a consensus on the exact words Miguel Hidalgo said at the time. Michael Meyer has noted:

"The exact words of this most famous of all Mexican speeches are not known, or, rather, they are reproduced in almost as many variations as there are historians to reproduce them." ^[4]

Meyer also argues that:

...the essential spirit of the message is... 'My children: a new dispensation comes to us today. Will you receive it? Will you free yourselves? Will you recover the lands stolen three hundred years ago from your forefathers by the hated Spaniards? We must act at once... Will you defend your religion and your rights as true patriots? Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government! Death to the Gachupines!' ^[4]

In contrast, William F. Cloud divides the sentiments above between Hidalgo and the crowd:

[Hidalgo] told them that the time for action on their part had now come. When he asked, 'Will you be slaves of Napoleon, or will you as patriots defend your religion, your hearths, and your rights?' there was a unanimous cry, 'We will defend to the utmost! Long live religion; long live our most holy mother of Guadalupe! Long live America! Death to bad government, and death to the Gachupines!' ^[5]

Many believe that Hidalgo's Grito condemned the notion of monarchy and criticized the current social order in detail. However, his opposition targeted Spain and its viceroy in Mexico: that is, not against the monarchy in general but against "bad government". The Grito also emphasized loyalty to the Catholic religion, a sentiment with which both Mexican-born Criollos and Peninsulares (native Spaniards) could sympathize. However, the strong anti-Spanish cry of "Death to Gachupines" (Gachupines being a slur given to Peninsulares) would have shocked Mexico's elites. ^[6]

National festivities

Further information: Independence Day (Mexico)

16 September was first celebrated in 1812 in Huichapan, Hidalgo. ^[7] It was given the status of a national holiday in the Constitution of Apatzingán, ratified by the conventions of 1822 and 1824, and first celebrated nationally in 1825. ^[8]

Notes

1. As a common noun, dolores means "pains" or "sorrows" in Spanish; in this context, however, Dolores is a place name. Overliteral translations such as "shout of pains", sometimes made by machine translation software, are therefore incorrect.

References

1. Timothy J. Henderson, The Mexican Wars for Independence (New York: Hill and Wang, 2009), pp. 49–52, 64–68.
2. Timothy J. Henderson, The Mexican Wars for Independence (New York: Hill and Wang, 2009), pp. 70–71. ^{[ ISBN missing ]}
3. Virginia Guedea, "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 640.
4. Meyer, Michael, et al (1979). The Course of Mexican History, p. 276, New York: Oxford University Press ISBN   978-0-19-502413-5.
5. William F. Cloud (1896). Church and State or Mexican Politics from Cortez to Diaz. Kansas City, Mo: Peck & Clark, Printers.
6. Kirkwood, Burton (2000). History of Mexico. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN   978-0-313-30351-7.
7. "En Huichapan, Hidalgo, se dio el primer "Grito de Independencia" hace casi 200 años" (in Spanish). La Jornada. 2010-09-16. Archived from the original on 2010-09-17.
8. Emmanuel Carballo (September 2009). "El grito de Dolores de 1812 a 1968" (in Spanish). University of México. Retrieved 2017-09-15.

Further reading

• Fernández Tejedo, Isabel; Nava Nava, Carmen (2001). "Images of Independence in the Nineteenth Century: The Grito de Dolores, History and Myth". In William H. Beezly and David E. Lorey (ed.). ¡Viva México! ¡Viva la independencia!: Celebrations of September 16. Silhouettes: studies in history and culture series. Margarita González Aredondo and Elena Murray de Parodi (Spanish-English trans.). Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources. pp. 1–42. ISBN   0-8420-2914-1. OCLC   248568379.
• Sr. Antonio Barajas Becerra, "Entrada de los Insurgentes a la Villa de San Miguel El Grande, la tarde del Domingo, 16 de Septiembre de 1801."
• Antonio Barajas Beccera, 1969, Generalisimo don Ignacio de Allende y Unzaga, 2a edicion, p. 108 ("a las cinco de la manana del domingo 16 de Septiembre, 1810").
• Gloria Cisneros Lenoir, Miguel Guzman Peredo, 1985, Miguel Hidalgo y la Ruta de la Independencia, Bertelsmann de Mexico, p. 87.
• Costeloe, Michael (1 January 1997). "The Junta Patriótica and the Celebration of Independence in Mexico City, 1825–1855". Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos. 13 (1): 21–53. doi:10.2307/1051865. JSTOR   1051865.
• Archer, Christon I. (2011). "Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821)". The Encyclopedia of War. doi:10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow399. ISBN   978-1-4051-9037-4.

External links

• Mexico connect.com: "El Grito" (The Cry) Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
• Mexico Celebrates Its Bicentennial Archived 2010-09-21 at the Wayback Machine – slideshow by Life magazine