About Independence Day
Mexican Independence Day, on 16 September, commemorates the start of the war of independence against the Spanish Crown in 1810. The pivotal moment was the Grito de Dolores — the cry of Dolores — given in the small hours of 16 September by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the parish priest of the town of Dolores in Guanajuato, calling his parishioners and fellow Creoles to take up arms against the colonial government. The struggle that followed lasted eleven years and ended with the Treaty of Córdoba in 1821, recognising the independence of the Mexican Empire. Independence Day is the most important civic holiday in Mexico and is observed throughout Mexican diaspora communities — particularly across the United States. It is often confused abroad with Cinco de Mayo (5 May), which actually commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla and is a much smaller holiday inside Mexico.
The celebration centres on the Grito ceremony on the evening of 15 September. From the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City, the president rings the same bell Hidalgo rang in 1810 and calls out the names of independence heroes, with the crowd answering Viva Mexico! after each name, then waving the green-white-red tricolour with the eagle and serpent. The ceremony is mirrored by governors and mayors at every state and town hall across Mexico, and by Mexican embassies and consulates worldwide. Fireworks follow, then mariachi music, food and drink late into the night. The 16th itself opens with a military parade through the Zócalo in Mexico City, broadcast nationally. Pozole, chiles en nogada (whose colours match the flag), tequila, mezcal and tamales fill tables; houses, balconies and streets are draped in tricolour bunting through all of September.