El Grito!

Tonight, September 15, 2008, at 11:00pm, we will be able to witness "el grito de independencia" (the cry of independence) in the Zocalo of Cuernavaca.  It begins the celebration of Mexico's Independence from Spain which occurred, not on Cinco de Mayo, but on September 16, 1810.  The short version of the story is this:  After Columbus "discovered" America, the Spaniards arrived in Mexico in 1521 headed by Hernan Cortes.  The indigenous nations helped Cortes defeat the Aztecs because they thought they would be better off.  Thus began 3 centuries of Spanish rule.  The Spaniards brought with them diseases unknown to the natives and after one century of Spanish rule the Indian population went from 20 million to 1 million! Discontent steadily grew,  in 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain and inspired by the French philosophers concepts of liberty, equality and democracy and by the war of Independence of the US, the Criollos (those born in Mexico from Spanish parents--the social class below the Spaniards) decided to revolt.  Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a 57 year-old priest from an old family of Criollos, accompanied by several conspirators, rang the bell of his little church calling everyone to fight for liberty.  This was the beginning of the Independence War, which lasted 10 years.

At 11:00pm tonight, the President of Mexico along with his family, will stand on a balcony in the Zocalo of Mexico City and repeat the cry of Father Hidalgo, "Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe (a symbol of the Amerindians' faith and patron saint of Mexico), death to bad government, and death to the Spaniards!".  From what I hear he also says "Viva Hidalgo!" and other names important to Mexican independence, to which the crown replies, "Viva!".  The event ends at midnight with the cry, "Viva Mexico!" and fireworks.  Apparently, it is also popular to shoot guns into the air!  Yikes!

Each state has it's own cry by the Governor of that state in the Zocalo of the Capitol. Cuernavaca is the Capitol of the state of Morelos, so the Governor is suppose to be in our Zocalo tonight.  HOWEVER, there is rumor that El Grito will not happen because of the teachers strike that is still going on and the Governor is afraid that the teachers (and others that support the teachers) will cause some havoc!  Those DARN teachers!!  :o)

Tomorrow, the cities have military parades.  Our city has a pretty large military base (artillery based) so we will be able to see a grand military parade, I think.