El Grito de Dolores (Cry of Independence) and Dia de la Independencia (Independence Day) September 15-16


At dawn on Sunday, September 16, 1810, while Napolean's troops were occupying Spain and King Ferdinand VII of Spain was still in captivity , Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a fifty-seven-year-old priest from an old family of criollos (Mexican-born Spaniards) launched the movement that resulted in Mexico's independence. He had begun to harangue his parishioners 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.

Alerted by Josefa Ortiz de Dominquez ("La Corregidora") that his revolutionary plot had been discovered and that he would soon be arrested, he brought his plans forward and, with the Grito de Dolores delivered in religious language and from the belfry of his defence against the usurpers of authority and the enemies of Fernando VII. In doing this, Hidalgo started the great revolt of 1810. His battle cry was: "Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Death to the Spaniards!"

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.

In less than a year he was at the gates of Mexico City, with an army big enough to capture it. For reasons that have puzzled historians he retreated. Some analysts point out that he feared he could not control the mob once they have taken the city, which while unguarded, was to receive reinforcements soon.

He was apprehended in a battle along with other leaders of the revolution, among them Ignacio Allende, Josa Mariano Jimnez and Juan Aldama. Since he was a clergyman Hidalgo could not be immediately executed. A few months later, in July of 1811, he was tried by the Inquisition and excommunicated. Subsequently he was condemned to death by the civil authorities. The four leaders were executed in Chihuahua, three of them on June 26, 1811 and Miguel Hidalgo on July 30, 1811 After being decapitated their heads were put in the four corners of the Alhndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato as a way to scare off the revolution.

But by then the seed had begun to sprout. The Mexican War of Independence, a truly popular movement led by four hundred armed parish priests, ended with Mexico being a independent nation.

On September 15, 1910 in preparation for the 100th anniversary of Mexico's independence special envoys from Spain gathered on the illuminated balconies of the National Palace and watched the fiesta of all fiestas in preparation for the grito de independencia, the "cry of independence" that was to arrive with the coming dawn. However, at 11:00 pm on September 15, 1910, President Porfirio Diaz 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 Heroes of the Nation!" "Long Live the Republic!" Below him, in the majestic zocalo 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 at 11 p.m. on the night of the September 15th rather than at dawn on September 16th, when it all really began? A minor historical license: September 15 was the Day of Saint Porfirio (a Greek saint of the fourth century) and the birthday of President Poririo Diaz. Thus today Mexico's Independence Day celebration lasts two days.