Home
Q&A
Mexico’s Bicentennial Celebration!

Mexico’s Bicentennial Celebration!

6
votes

All the spanish employees where I work are putting on a huge fiesta tomorrow and our lunch room is sooo festive. This is a big deal for Mexico and a lot of celebration will be going on in southern California.

alt text

vestidos de danza folklorica

5038 views
updated Sep 15, 2010
edited by foxluv
posted by foxluv

9 Answers

4
votes

September 15 or 16?

On the night of September 15, 1910, the special envoys stood on the illuminated balconies of the National Palace and watched the fiesta of all fiestas on the Mexcian civil calendar: the grito de independencia, the "cry of independence." One hundred years earlier (less a few hours) at dawn on Sunday, September 1810 -- while Napolean's troops were occupying Spain and King Ferdinand VII was still in captivity -- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a fifty-seven-year-old priest from an old family of criollos (Mexican-born Spaniards) had suddenly begun to harangue his parishoners in the small town of Dolores in the state of Guanajuato, "seducing them" (according to a chronicle of the time) to rise up in arms - even with stones, slings, sticks or spears - in order to defend their religion against the "French heretics" who had occupied Spain since 1808 and now threatened to come over to the Americas.

What Hidalgo intended - and accomplished - was to launch his flock against the hated gachupines (Spaniards born in Spain and living in Mexico) "who had been exploiting the wealth of the Mexican people with the greatest injustice for three hundred years." Within a month, he had been joined by more than fifty thousand men, mainly Indians from the poorest levels of society. Attracted by his religious magnetism and by other, less noble motives, this multitude devastated the cities of San Miguel, Celaya, and Guanajuato and were on the point of entering Mexico City when Hidalgo ordered them to retreat.

A few months later, in July of 1811, he was tried by the Inquisition, condemned by the civil authorities, and executed. But by then the seed had begun to sprout. It took the form of a long and violent social earthquake, almost without precedent in New Spain or the Americas: the Mexican War of Independence - a truly popular movement led by four hundred armed parish priests - only to be compared in its fury with the uprising of black slaves in Santo Domingo in 1801, and the Indian rebellion of Tupac Amaru (1781) in Peru.

Not many remembered the revolutionary aspect of the War of Independence on that night of nights in 1910. As in every other year, what really mattered was going to the Zócalo (central plaza) to participate in the ritual of the grito. According to witnesses pressent at the original event, Hidalgo and then his followers had shouted "¡Mueran los gachupines! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!" ("Death to the Spaniards! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!"), but after one hundred years, time, good manners, and the secularization had transformed the ritual from the call for a holy war, to a peaceful, patriotic affirmation.

At 11:00 pm on that September, 1910, President Porfirio Díaz stood on the main balcony of the National Palace, and once again rang the same bell Hidalgo had rung in Dolores. He shouted several vivas: "Long Live the Heros of the Nation!" "Long Live the Republic!" Below him, in the majestic zócalo that, from the days of the Aztecs had been the ceremonial heart of the Mexican Nation, a hundred thousand voices shouted in reply "¡VIVA!"

But why had the President delivered this grito on the night of the September 15th rather than at dawn on September 16th, when it all really began? A minor historical licence: September 15 was the Day of Saint Porfirio (a Greek saint of the fourth century) and the birthday of President Poririo Díaz.

Absrtacted from "Mexico: Biography of Power" by Enrique Krauze,

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by 005faa61
4
votes

México, México, te llevo en mi corazón!

Es posible irse de México, pero dejarlo? Nunca. Una vez bajo la piel, te late en las venas.

Feliz bicentenio!

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by mountaingirl123
Sí mountaingirl. ¡Me encanta! All that great Mexican food tomorrow! - foxluv, Sep 14, 2010
3
votes

This has been discussed on the Mexican news channel that I watch every morning. It is going to be a big celebration!

alt text

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by Nicole-B
3
votes

I am going to the parade in the capital city this afternoon.

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by petersenkid2
3
votes

I think it would be appropriate to honor Mexico with a margarita or two tonight.

Mexican Bicentennial

updated Sep 15, 2010
edited by 008f2974
posted by 008f2974
Dos Equis dark brew mmmm! - foxluv, Sep 15, 2010
3
votes

Lakewood is not that far ... what time will this be?

Anything I can bring?

I could bring a door prize!

alt text

Door prize - en español no hay una palabra para ese significado tan concreto. ???

updated Sep 15, 2010
edited by LateToDinner
posted by LateToDinner
What city are you in Late to Dinner? Our whole business complex is having fiestas. - foxluv, Sep 15, 2010
Huntington Beach ... oh how soon we forget! - LateToDinner, Sep 15, 2010
2
votes

Esta noche en muchas ciudades a travez de México, las cabezas del estado pararán en las balconias de los edificios municipales para dar la grita: ¡Viva México! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva Méxcio!

Acá de este lado, voy a hacer un brindis con los tres colores sobre la bandera méxicana. Demasiadas notícias malas proviene de este país bonito.

alt text

updated Sep 15, 2010
edited by Jeremias
posted by Jeremias
2
votes

Our fiesta was fantastico! We had mexican music and dancing and so much food I can hardly walk. Even our company President and his wife were dancing and he is 76 and she is 81. Wow, the mexican nationals sure have a blast!

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by foxluv
1
vote

¡Viva México! ¡Viva nuestro vecino!

alt text

updated Sep 15, 2010
posted by wansell