¡Viva México!

Although the streets have been covered with green, white, and red (Mexico's national colors) for quite some time now, today officially celebrates 199 years of independence for Mexico.

While September 16th is the official date of independence, most celebrations begin the day before. In many cities in Mexico, there is a zócalo (main plaza in the city center), which gradually fills with people as the evening of September 15th advances. At 11:00 PM, a government official from each town arrives in the zócalo to give the grito or cry of independence. (In Mexico City’s zócalo, the president walks out onto the balcony of the Palacio Nacional to offer the grito.) This ritual recreates the moment in which Miguel Hidalgo, the father of Mexico, called out for freedom from Spain. As he delivered this freedom speech, he rang a church bell. To this day, the same bell is rung in Mexico City every September 16th.

The crowd joins in the grito by proudly shouting the names of Mexican independence heroes and ends with ¡Viva México! You can watch a video here of this year’s grito in Mexico City given by President Felipe Calderón. The best part occurs from 1:40-3:00 on the video...you might want to fast forward.

I didn’t have the opportunity to go to the grito in Cuernavaca because it was raining extremely hard, but I am decked out in green, white, and red today. The pictures in this post are a sampling of the many displays of independence that I have seen throughout Mexico.

I made some puppy chow and chocolate chip cookies to take to my neighbor’s Independence Day celebration tonight. I hope you felt like you got to experience a little bit of Mexican Independence Day!

¡Viva México!

Abrazos, Nicole