What was the Grito de Dolores in Mexico?
The Grito de Dolores
El Grito de Dolores
16 September 1810. Before dawn on 16 September 1810 Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, in the Bajío north of Mexico City, rang his church bell and called the people of…
Draft: not yet checked against its sources.
Where: Mexico
What happened
Before dawn on 16 September 1810 Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, in the Bajío north of Mexico City, rang his church bell and called the people of the town to rise against the colonial government. Carrying a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Hidalgo gathered a huge army of villagers and miners that threatened the capital, but it was beaten in early 1811; he was captured, tried and shot in Chihuahua on 30 July 1811. The war he started ended in 1821. Every 15 September at night the president of Mexico rings the bell of Dolores from the balcony of the National Palace and repeats the cry: ¡Viva México!
Say it
El 16 de septiembre de 1810 el cura Hidalgo llamó al pueblo con la campana de su iglesia.
On 16 September 1810 the priest Hidalgo called the people with his church bell.
Why it matters
The Grito is Mexico's founding moment and the model for independence days across the region. It also fixed a way of talking about the nation, 'patria', 'independencia', 'Viva México', that every Mexican child learns.
Read about it
Connected
- The independence of Spanish America (1808–1826)
- Madrid rises against Napoleon (2 May 1808)
- Madrid rises against Napoleon (2 May 1808)
- The May Revolution in Buenos Aires (25 May 1810)
- The Plan de Iguala and Mexican independence (24 February – 27 September 1821)
- The Plan de Iguala and Mexican independence (24 February – 27 September 1821)
Sources
- 16 de septiembre de 1810, grito de Independencia de México — Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (gob.mx)
- Aniversario del natalicio de Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla — Secretaría de Educación Pública (gob.mx)
- 25 May 1810: 214 years after the May Revolution — Casa Rosada