It has been suggested that this article be split into articles titled Cry of Dolores and Mexican Independence Day . (discuss) (December 2024) |
El Grito de Dolores | |
---|---|
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 2025 |
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 Mexico!" three times followed by the Mexican National Anthem.
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 creole leadership attempted to set a course of autonomy and in support of the legitimate heir to the throne, Ferdinand VII, but the peninsular elite fearing loss of the colony carried out a coup, also in the name of Ferdinand. Almost immediately groups of creoles began forming 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 of the plotters decided to proceed with the uprising. [1] Around 2:30 am of September 16, 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]
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. In fact, his opposition was targeted to 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]
The day of 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]
The Cry of Dolores has assumed an almost mythical status. [9] [10] Since the late 20th century, the event has come to symbolize Mexican independence and to initiate Independence Day ceremonies the following day (16 September). Independence Day in Mexico is a patriotic holiday, marked by parades, concerts, patriotic programs, drum and bugle and marching band competitions, and special programs on the national and local media outlets. [11]
Every 15 September at around 11 p.m., the President of Mexico stands on the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City and rings the same bell that Hidalgo rang in 1810, which was moved to the National Palace. The President then recites a shout of patriotism (a Grito Mexicano) based upon the "Grito de Dolores", with the names of the important heroes of the Mexican War of Independence who were there on that historic day. The Grito ends with the threefold shout of ¡Viva México!
The Grito often differs slightly from year to year to reflect recent sentiments, or a preference by the President for a shorter or longer shout. This is the version often recited by the President of Mexico:
Beneath the balcony of the National Palace, there is a large crowd in the Plaza de la Constitución (also called the Zócalo), to hear the recitation. The event draws up to half a million spectators from all over Mexico and tourists worldwide. After the President recites each line beginning with "¡Viva(n)!", the crowd responds by repeating, "¡Viva(n)!"
After the recitation, the President rings the bell one last time and waves the Flag of Mexico to the applause of the crowd.
This is followed by the playing of the Mexican national anthem by a military band from the Mexican Armed Forces, with the crowd singing along. The ceremonies conclude with a spectacular fireworks display at the Zócalo grounds.
On the morning of 16 September, or Independence Day, the national military parade in honor of the holiday starts in the Zócalo and its outskirts, passes the Hidalgo Memorial and ends on the Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City's main boulevard, passing "El Ángel de la Independencia" memorial column and other places along the way.
The Grito is not always re-enacted at the National Palace; some years it is performed in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, where it originally happened. This is especially common in the final year of a President's term.
President Felipe Calderón made an exception by re-enacting the Grito in Dolores Hidalgo as part of the bicentennial celebrations on 16 September 2010, even though he had already done so the night before from the National Palace balcony to launch the celebrations. [12] [13] As a result, in 2012, Calderón's final year as president, he did not go to Dolores Hidalgo but gave the Grito from the National Palace balcony instead. President Enrique Peña Nieto did not give the Grito in Dolores Hidalgo in any of his six years as president, becoming the fourth president to break the tradition.
Many presidents add their "personal touch" to the Grito and this can be controversial. President Vicente Fox frequently took liberties with it, adding and removing items, addressing Mexicans in both genders, and in 2001 wishing long life to "our agreements". [14] Peña Nieto gave "vivas" to victims of recent earthquakes in 2017.
During Peña Nieto's presidency, the Grito became an occasion for political protest against him and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). On 15 September 2016, a month after the president appeared to be humiliated by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, thousands of citizens marched, yelled, and carried signs. They tried to enter the Zócalo during the Grito, but were blocked by a wall of soldiers. [15] News outlets within Mexico failed to acknowledge the protest. The event was well-attended but opponents charge that the PRI brought acarreados (poor people or hand-picked party members) as a fake show of support. [16]
The Grito was also disrupted in 2006 by a demonstration called the Plantón. Crowds loyal to losing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador protested alleged irregularities in the general election just concluded, and the Grito could not be delivered at the Zócalo but was spoken at the National Palace. [17] López Obrador won the presidency in 2018.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Grito to be done remotely. [18]
Similar celebrations to the presidential one occur in cities and towns throughout Mexico, and in Mexican embassies and consulates worldwide on 15 or 16 September. The chief executive, ambassador, or consul rings a bell and recites the traditional words, including the names of independence heroes and local patriots, and ending with the threefold shout of Viva Mexico! The bell rings a second time, the Mexican flag is waved, and everyone sings the National Anthem, followed by fireworks. There are also celebrations in schools throughout Mexico, and in these cases whenever the bell ringing is reenacted the school or university head utters the traditional words. Celebrations also take place outside of Mexico, such as in U.S. states that have a large concentration of people of Mexican heritage who celebrate the holiday. [19]
As Mexico has historically been one of the largest sources of tourism to the region, the US city of Las Vegas is known for hosting cultural events—including concerts and sporting events—appealing to Mexicans and Hispanic Americans on and around 16 September. [20] [21] In the United States, National Hispanic Heritage Month also begins on 15 September; the date was chosen due to its proximity to the independence day of Mexico and other Latin American countries. [20] [21] [22]
Since the early-1990s, boxing cards with main events involving top Mexican fighters have been a fixture of Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas. While U.S.-hosted fights on the weekend date back as far as the 1970s, the tradition of hosting these fights in Las Vegas was first established by Julio César Chávez and his manager Don King, who fought annually during Independence Day week from 1991 to 1995. All but one of these bouts were held in Las Vegas, with his 1993 fight against Pernell Whitaker occurring at San Antonio's Alamodome instead. The tradition was later taken up by other boxers of Mexican descent, such as Oscar De La Hoya and Canelo Álvarez. [23] The tradition has also been extended to mixed martial arts, with UFC beginning to host a Las Vegas event on the weekend promoted as Noche UFC beginning with 2023's UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 (with a main event featuring the promotion's first women's champion of Mexican descent, Alexa Grasso), and UFC 306 in 2024 (where all but one of the matches featured at least one fighter of Mexican or Mexican-American descent). [24] [25]
Fiestas Patrias in Mexico originated in the 19th century and are observed today as five public holidays.
Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla Gallaga Mandarte y Villaseñor, commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or simply Miguel Hidalgo, was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican War of Independence, and is recognized as the Father of the Nation.
Dolores Hidalgo is the name of a city and the surrounding municipality in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
José María Teclo Morelos Pérez y Pavón was a Mexican Catholic priest, statesman and military leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811.
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. It was not a single, coherent event, but local and regional struggles that occurred within the same period, and can be considered a revolutionary civil war. It culminated with the drafting of the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire in Mexico City on September 28, 1821, following the collapse of royal government and the military triumph of forces for independence.
María Josefa Crescencia Ortiz Téllez–Girón, popularly known as Doña Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez or La Corregidora was an insurgent and supporter of the Mexican War of Independence, which fought for independence against Spain, in the early 19th century. She was married to Miguel Domínguez, corregidor of the city of Querétaro, hence her nickname.
The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Monumento a la Independencia, is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City.
Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga, commonly known as Ignacio Allende, was a captain of the Spanish Army in New Spain who came to sympathize with the Mexican independence movement. He attended the secret meetings organized by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, where the possibility of an independent Mexico was discussed. He fought along with Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the first stage of the struggle, eventually succeeding him in leadership of the rebellion. Allende was captured by Spanish colonial authorities while he was in Coahuila and executed for treason in Chihuahua.
Juan Aldama was a Mexican revolutionary rebel soldier during the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.
The National Palace is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución. This site has been a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec Empire, and much of the current palace's building materials are from the original one that belonged to the 16th-century leader Moctezuma II.
José Miguel Domínguez Alemán was a New Spanish colonial official in New Spain who played a part in the Mexican independence movement. He was also a member of a transitional governing committee in the period between the abdication of Mexican Emperor Agustín de Iturbide and the installation of Guadalupe Victoria as the first president of independent Mexico. His wife, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, also known as La Corregidora, was a heroine of Mexican independence.
Jerécuaro is a Mexican city located in the lowlands of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 828.3 square kilometres and is bordered to the north by Apaseo el Alto, to the east by Coroneo and the state of Querétaro, to the south by Tarandacuao, to the southwest with Acámbaro, and to the northwest with Tarimoro. The municipality had 55,311 inhabitants according to the 2005 census. The municipal president of Jerécuaro and its many smaller outlying communities is C.Jaime García Cardona.
Events in the year 1810 in Mexico.
In 2010, Mexico celebrated both the 200th anniversary of its Independence and 100th anniversary of its Revolution. The entire year was proclaimed by President Felipe Calderón as "Año de la Patria", or "Year of the Nation". 16 September 1810 is the day of the "Grito de Dolores" or Miguel Hidalgo's call to take up arms against the Spanish colonial government. The start of the Mexican Revolution is celebrated as being 20 November 1910, when Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Pascual Orozco led the first insurrectionist attack against the regime of Porfirio Díaz. Events and other promotions of these celebrations were designed to link of Mexico's identity and historic continuity. During a speech at the inauguration of the Casa de Allende Historic Museum, President Felipe Calderón called upon Mexico to use the upcoming anniversaries to reflect on where the country has been and to think about what kind of Mexico descendants will inherit in the future. He said the vision of the insurgents of the War of Independence was forward, not backward, so every celebration of these past events must consider the future as well.
The Battle of Monte de las Cruces was one of the pivotal battles of the early Mexican War of Independence, in October 1810.
The Battle of Zitácuaro took place during the War of Mexican Independence on 2 January 1812 in the area around Zitácuaro, Michoacán. The battle was fought between the royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown and the Mexican rebels fighting for independence from the Spanish Empire. The Mexican insurgents were commanded by General Ignacio López Rayón and the Spanish by Félix María Calleja. The battle resulted in a victory for the Spanish Royalists even in the face of overwhelming odds.
The Battle of Tecualoya was a military action of the Mexican War of Independence fought between 17–20 January 1812 in the canyons of Tecualoya, Mexico. The battle was fought between the royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown and the Mexican rebels fighting for independence from the Spanish Empire. The Mexican insurgents were commanded by General Hermenegildo Galeana and the Spanish by Rosendo Porlier y Asteguieta. The battle resulted in a humiliating defeat for Galeana and his army. The Mexican insurgents lost all their artillery, though they would later recover these field pieces at the Battle of Tenancingo where General José María Oviedo would be killed in action.
Wells of Baján are water wells located between Saltillo and Monclova in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. The small community near the wells is called Acatita de Baján. In the first phase of the Mexican War of Independence, revolutionary leaders Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, José Mariano Jiménez, and Juan Aldama, plus nearly 900 men in the rebel army were captured here on March 21, 1811, by 150 soldiers commanded by Ignacio Elizondo. Elizondo pretended to be a supporter of the struggle to overthrow Spanish rule, lured the rebels into a trap, and captured them with little resistance. The four leaders and many of their followers were tried and executed.
Ramón Fabié y de Jesús was a Philippines-born Mexican mining engineering student who joined revolutionaries in the Mexican War of Independence.
The Capture of Alhóndiga de Granaditas was a military action carried out in Guanajuato, viceroyalty of New Spain, on September 28, 1810, between the royalist soldiers of the province and the insurgents commanded by Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende. The fear unleashed in the social circles of the provincial capital made the intendant, Juan Antonio Riaño, ask the population to barrack in the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, a granary built in 1800, and in whose construction Miguel Hidalgo had participated as an advisor to his old friend Riaño. After several hours of combat, Riaño was killed and the Spaniards who had taken refuge there wished to surrender. The military in the viceroy's service continued the fight, until the insurgents managed to enter and then massacred not only the few guards that defended it, but also the numerous families of civilians who had taken refuge there. Many historians consider this confrontation more like a mutiny or massacre of civilians than a battle, since there were no conditions of military equality between the two sides.