Last Monday, on Sept. 16, Mexico celebrated its 215th Dia de Independencia or “Day of Independence.” At exactly midnight, thousands of people gathered in Mexico City’s iconic Zocalo to hear President Claudia Sheinbaum yell out “El Grito” or “The Cry of Independence,” but what exactly is the cry and why does it matter? Well, to explain it to you, we are going to have to time-travel through history to 1810 to the small town of Dolores, Mexico.
Now, I’m sure that you know that Mexico was colonized by Spain in 1521 when Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés and his fellow conquistadors attacked the Aztecs and took control of the country as a colony of Spain. Mexico would then be under the rule of Spain as “New Spain” for the next 300 years until independence was gained in 1821. I could sit here all day and explain to you all of the drastic changes that the Spaniards made to Mexico that affected not only the life of the indigenous groups in Mexico but are still very much rooted in Mexican culture to this day; however, that is not what we are here for, and it would take much too long. Instead, we are going to skip over all of that and go to the very end of Spanish rule to a man named Miguel Hidalgo.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was born in Corralejo on May 8, 1753, as the second child of Cristobal Hidalgo and his wife. Hidalgo had a very well-funded education, getting his Bachelor’s degree in theology and philosophy in 1773, and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1778. The first few years of his career were a bit uneventful, but in 1803, his older brother, who had been the parish priest in Dolores, passed away, and Hidalgo decided to assume his brother’s duties. Before we can get to the main point of the story, it is important to note that in 1808, Spain was invaded by French troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte, who forced the abdication of King Ferdinand VII in favor of Bonaparte’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte. This caused a lot of tension to rise in Mexico as groups began to divide: those in support of Ferdinand and those who began to believe that Mexico deserved independence from Spain. Hidalgo specifically believed in independence and was even a part of a pro-independence group in San Miguel (now San Miguel de Allende) with another famous hero of independence, Ignacio Allende. Hidalgo and his peers were sold out to the Spanish, and he was warned to flee. Instead, Hidalgo took action, going to the church bells and ringing them to call his fellow parishioners to announce the revolution against Spain on Sept. 16th, 1810. His speech not only inspired many, encouraging a revolution, but also brought forth a cry for racial equality and land redistribution. It became so famous that it was then titled “El Grito de Dolores” or “The Cry of Dolores”. Unfortunately, Hidalgo was arrested, tried, and ultimately executed for his part in the revolution in 1811, but his legacy lived on through many other revolutionaries. Then, in 1821, after eleven years of war, Mexico finally gained independence from Spain.
El Grito is now performed every year at midnight on Sept. 15th as the start of the Dia de Independencia by the current Mexican president, as well as in smaller ceremonies in Mexican consulates and Embassies around the world. This year was especially important because it was the first time that El Grito was performed by a female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, after she won the election last year and was sworn in on Oct. 1, 2024. El Grito is performed as a call-and-response type of speech, yet it’s a bit different and unique to the person who is leading it. However, the most famous/common way is:
¡Mexicanos!
¡Vivan los héroes que nos dieron patria!
¡Viva Hidalgo!
¡Viva Morelos!
¡Viva Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez!
¡Viva Allende!
¡Viva Aldama y Matamoros!
¡Viva la Independencia Nacional!
¡Viva México! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva México!
After each section, the crowd will yell back “¡Viva!” in response until the whole thing ends with a few more “¡Viva!”s, complete with bells being rung and flags being waved. This year, there were an estimated 280,000 people in attendance, which filled the Zocalo to the brim. Sheinbaum dedicated her first Grito to the heroines of Mexican history, paying homage to women like Josefa Ortiz Téllez Girón, Leona Vicario, Gertrudis Bocanegra, and Manuela Molina.
In the end, “El Grito” isn’t just a speech or a yell, but it’s a key part in remembering the history of Mexico and all that it took to get the country to where it is today. I hope to one day attend El Grito at the Zocalo in person, and I definitely think that it should be on many people’s bucket lists as well. Mexicans are some of the proudest and loudest people when it comes to their heritage and history, something that I am extremely proud of being a part of. Hidalgo didn’t know that his speech would one day become an annual ritual with bells being rung in his honor; he was simply calling to his brothers and sisters to take on the oppressive force that had silenced them for far too long, and that is what “El Grito” is all about.