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September, Fatherland’s Month
By The PVMirror Staff • Translated by Eduardo Rincón-Gallardo
• Photos by Jesús de Avila • September 2008
September is considered our fatherland’s month because several historic events converge into this month, al related to our country’s great struggle for freedom, Independence and sovereignty.
 On the fifteenth we commemorate what we call “The Cry of Independence”, as according to history was the call by priest Miguel Hidalgo in the town of Dolores. This historic event is reenacted in all towns of Mexico, although the most outstanding one is the one in which our nation’s president, celebrates waving the Mexican flag on the presidential balcony of Mexico City’s Government Palace at 11pm, overlooking the huge main square or “Zócalo”, where thousands of citizens participate in a lively family festival filled with vendors of rich, traditional Mexican tidbits (antojitos), banners, flags, pinwheels, balloons, images of our independence movement’s heroes, hats and flag-colored accessories, sweets, traditional toys, mariachi bands, fireworks, among many other things are commonplace in this vibrant celebration in a context of unending fiesta that seems to begin and reach its climax all at once when the Bell of Dolores tolls announcing the “Cry” of ¡Viva México! ¡Viva nuestra Independencia! ¡Vivan los héroes que nos dieron Patria!... cried out by all with great fervor.
September 16th is celebrated with a military parade where our army, headed by the Heroic Colegio Militar and followed by other military schools, Charro associations and the heroic Firemen Body; it is a solemn and colorful event.
• Brief Review:
After three centuries of Spanish domination when viceroys and Spaniards were the only ones holding privileges and enormous wealth was amassed by the exploitation of Indians and our country’s resources; several people united to launch the movement for the Independence of the New Spain. Several attempts to obtain it through legal channels were tried, all suppressed; therefore, in 1808, a group of Creoles began preparing for the armed rebellion.
 Historical archives mention that the movement was organized by Ignacio Allende, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Juan Aldama, Querétaro’s corregidor Miguel Domínguez and his wife Josefa Ortiz, among others.
Reunions were held in Valladolid (renamed Morelia in the state of Michoacán), San Miguel el Grande, Querétaro and the town of Dolores in Guanajuato. These were supposed to be reading sessions, to avoid the government’s awareness they were called “Literary Academy”.
Having established a date to rise against the government, the plot was discovered and corregidor Miguel Domínguez was jailed. The corregidor’s wife, Josefa Ortiz, found the way to advise Aldama that the conspiracy had been exposed and he then, along with City Mayor Pérez, rode to Dolores to warn Hidalgo and Allende.
The corregidor’s wife was arrested, Hidalgo gathered a group of friends and decided to immediately launch the rebellion. Hidalgo said they had “nowhere else to go” and the only solution was to fight against all the “gachupines” (as Spaniards were derogatorily called).
Hence, the early morning of September 16th 1810 our Mexico’s most important struggle began. Hidalgo and the insurgent group went to the parish calling people to arms to the great sound of the bell. The townsfolk gathered in the church atrium, Hidalgo informed them of the situation, urging them to join the battle he ended his inciting speech with the cry of “¡Viva la Patria! ¡Muera el  mal gobierno!. (Long Live the Fatherland! Death to the bad government!). He then liberated the inmates from jail, took the command from the Spaniards and armed with picks and shovels, machetes and knives he launched the fight for the Independence of Mexico. His army was called the Ejército Insurgente.
The army headed to Atotonilco, where Hidalgo took a standard with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe which became the flag of the insurgent army.
Eleven years of struggle went by until September 27th, 1821, Mexico’s Independence was consummated and Mexico was no longer ruled by Spain. Email to a friend
Source: http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/
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