Independence Day

On 16th of September is Mexico's Independece Day. In 1810 the Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla cried to the crowd in front of a church in the town of Dolores in order to encourage his compatriots to fight for independence. This event is celebrated since 1825 as Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores) every year shortly before midnight, that is, in the night of September 15.

The biggest celebration is in Mexico City, but after returning from Tepoztlán just one hour before, we settled for the festivities in Puebla, which were still larger than in Cholula.

C. (France), Y. (Corea), K. (Canada)

On every Zócalo (main plaza) in every city and town the mayor - or in Mexico City the president - repeats the speech of Miguel Hidalgo. At certain passages the crowd repeats Viva México, waving the Mexican flag. The "cry" and with the mayor on the balcony shouting three times Viva México and the crowd repeating it. Then everybody sings ardently the national anthem.

R. (Mexico), P. (Spain), R. (Japan), me, Y. (Corea), ? (Mexico), C. (France), K. (Canada)

After that there a fireworks, the traditional mariachi music, dance, food and everything Mexican fiestas need.

It was especially impressive as in Germany it would never ever be possible to shout Viva Alemania and wave German flags.
However, this patriotism doesn't mean that Mexicans would know more about their own history. When I explained to the other internationals the history of the tradition and also told them about the meaning of the Mexican coat of arms, even our Mexican compains were surprised, as they didn't know anything about that.
For example, they thought the war of independence ended with the Grito de Dolores, althouh it's vice versa.
It was also new for them when I said that the eagle in the coat of arms once wore a crown and that the bird eating a snake on a cactus relates to an Aztec legend which said that whereever this would happen the Indians should build their capital. It's the place where we can find Mexico City on today's maps. Probably I will know a lot more about Mexican culture after these two years, than about German culture. It's always the same thing with being in a foreign country and suddenly developing an interest in cultural matters.

By the way - this kind of tortillas is called chalupas, because they are eaten on festivals. Yes, the name changes according to the event... If only their taste was as nice as the vendor's smile...

... and as I said: They even put Valentina sauce on their pizza!

After the event we thought about going to a Mezcal bar, but it was already closed and also the Mariachi bars were pretty empty. Perhaps due to the rainy wather, although a Mexican taxi driver told me that this weather is totally typical for the Independence Day. Also some kind of tradition.
Anyway, as all of us were pretty tired, our Mexican friend R. drove us back to Cholula and at 2 a.m. I could finally sleep after a loooong and interesting day.
And that is exactly what I will now do again. Good night.

Ok, one last thing: The full name of Miguel Hidalgo is Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo-Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor. No comment.