With the dawn light shining, a Denver high school senior Nidian Calzada stands in a school doorway wearing a folkloric dance dress from Jalisco, Mexico, and waits to shout El Grito ("the cry" of independence given by Father Hidalgo) at a Mexican Independence Day celebration. The school began the day with La Entrada, a morning walk-in ceremony.
- History & Culture
- Explainer
Mexico's Independence Day marks the beginning of a decade-long revolution
Commonly confused with Cinco de Mayo in the U.S., this holiday celebrates the moment when Father Hidalgo called for Mexico's independence from Spain in September 1810.
On September 16, Mexicans around the globe will celebrate the anniversary of the country’s independence from Spain. The day is marked by a national holiday in Mexico, a reenactment of a historic moment from the revolution’s leader, and an array of performances from fireworks to dance routines.
Often confused with Cinco de Mayo by people living in the United States, Mexico’s independence day actually marks the moment in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest known as Father Hidalgo, made the first cry for independence. After a moving speech in the Mexican town of Dolores, Hidalgo took up the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Roman Catholic image of the Virgin Mary as she appears to
