The Best of Both Worlds

If you are able to pick a time to visit Mexico, you couldnt do better than to be here on the 15th of September, the day of Independence.  Unlike in the states, where the fourth of July is just a day off in the summer where we get together with our families and enjoy a day in the sun, in Mexico it is truly a celebration of being Mexican, and the tremendous pride that that entails.  It feels like a secular day of ….

Although the actual day of Independence is the 16th, it is the night before when all the action is.  Everything starts in the afternoon, where each delegation in the city has its stage set up for the celebrations.  There are red, white, and green banners hanging from everywhere you can see; big Mexican bands with their horns and accordians and guitars all decked out in black suits, playing for a set of boys and girls dancing in the traditional dress of the provinces.  The word to describe the whole setting is– joyous.  Everybody seemed to have a smile on their face, and if they werent dancing they were sitting back and joking with their friends. 

I was invited to go visit the delegacion Benito Juarez in the center of the city by my friend Carlos and his family.  The most famous place to be in Mexico on the 15th is either in the center of the city in the Zocalo (sort of like Mexico Citys “Times Square”), and in the part of the city called Coyoacan, about 8km to the south.  But we decided to go to a less famous delegation, and have a better time without the hordes of people.  The atmosphere was like a carnival, and as the weather was beautiful, a crisp, clear night with pleasant temperatures in the low 60s, it made the evening so enjoyable.  September has turned out to be a great month in Mexico, just like it is in every country I have ever lived in.  Fall is the greatest season because it is the most mature time of the year– its mellowed out after the heat and long days of summer, but not yet so cold and uninviting as winter can be, and I kept thinking that this was a great time for a country to celebrate its independence. 

I made it back to my house around 10:30, just in time to hear the cry of independence.  On the night of September 15th 1810, father Miguel de Hidalgo cried out from the bell tower of his church in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, Viva Mexico! Now the tradition is to hear the grito at eleven o’clock, and to then break out into flag waving, and general carosing about.  In the Zocalo in Mexico City, the president is the one to do it; at the delegation, the delegate to congress is the one; but at our party the person to yell out the cry was a guest with a Fathe Hidalgo mask on.  The party was in full gear when I arrived: marimba music blasting out of the speakers, twenty of the guests dancing in a circle, and five bottles of tequila set up on the table for everyone to drink.  All the guests were dressed up, but the women looked especially nice in their white skirts decorated with tricolored lace.  Finally at 11:00 we started to eat, and the feat began.  Everyone brought their own dish, of which we chose portions of a few and rolled them up in tortillas– the classic way to eat in Mexico.  I wanted to party more, but at 12:00 the tequila finally came out on top, and I crashed in my bed.  It was a night as fun as any New Years party in the states, and you didn have to freeze your tail off to enjoy it either.