Independence Day

Dia de Independencia (Independence Day) was my introduction to over-the-top holiday celebrations in Mexico. I had just moved to Mazatlán and my furniture hadn’t arrived yet. I brought a sauce pan, a frying pan and a few plastic dishes in my luggage. I bought a small bed, a tiny outdoor table and two plastic chairs at Sam’s Club. I went to the used appliance store and bought a stove and a refrigerator. I had enough to survive but I wanted my stuff.

My moving truck was stalled at the border because the inspector found a package of new sheets in one of my 250 boxes. Because I couldn’t prove that I paid tax for the sheets in the U.S., I had to pay the inspector $100.00 to approve my move. 

I know it was a bribe. I know the bribe cost more than the sheets were worth. I was lucky. He didn’t open the box that contained the digital grand piano. That didn’t have a receipt either. 

Truly, I felt trapped that day ~ September 16, 2005 ~ as I watched Neto and his friends install a fountain in my courtyard. There was nothing I could do until the moving truck arrived. And then I heard the parade. The most wonderful parade I’d ever seen.

To the beat of drums and music blaring from huge speakers on top of cars, little children came walking down my street, holding hands, dressed as guerrilla warriors from 1810. Preschool boys and girls, with bullet belts and long skirts, walking with their teachers. Unbelievably cute! 

That’s when I knew I had made the right decision. My home was right on the parade route. For the next five years, I watched every parade, (and there are a lot of them!) from my plastic chair placed right in front of my door.

Día de la Independencia marks the moment when Father Miguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest, made his cry for independence. His chant, ¡Viva Mexico! and ¡Viva Independencia¡ encouraged rebellion. He called for an end to Spanish rule in Mexico.

The Spanish regime was largely unprepared for the suddenness, size, and violence of the rebellion. From a small gathering at Father Hidalgo’s church in Delores, the army swelled to include workers on local estates, prisoners liberated from jail, and a few soldiers who revolted from the Spanish army. Farmers used agricultural tools to fight. Rebel soldiers had guns and bullets. Indians, armed with bows and arrow, joined the cause. The revolution rapidly moved beyond the village of Dolores to towns throughout Mexico.

Father Hidalgo was captured and executed on July 30, 1811. Father José Maria Morelos, a seminary student of Father Hidalgo, took charge. The movement’s banner with image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was symbolically important. She was seen as a protector and liberator  of dark-skinned Mexicans. Many men in Hidalgo’s forces went into battle wearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on their hats. The War of Independence was finally won on September 27, 1821.

Much like the Fourth of July in the U.S., Mexicans celebrate their country’s Independence Day with fireworks, parties, food, dance and music. Flags, flowers and decorations in the colors of the Mexican flag – red, white and green – are seen everywhere in cities and towns throughout Mexico.

Whistles and horns are blown and confetti is thrown to celebrate this festive occasion. Chants of “Viva Mexico” are shouted throughout the crowds. And school children, dressed in Mexican themes, march through the streets of their neighborhood. 

The following day, on September 17,  a moving truck with all of the belongings pulled up in front of my house. Out jumped six handsome Mexican men, ready to unload everything. Boxes containing everything I thought I would need and some things, like Christmas decorations and recipe books, I wasn’t yet ready to part with. And my piano! 

¡Viva Mexico!