If Mexico’s Independence Day is September 16, why does the nation celebrate el grito (the cry of independence) on September 15? Why not both on the same day?
And when did the ritual take on its present form, with the president of the republic ringing the bell of Dolores on the central balcony of the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City at 11 p.m. on September 15, and shouting “Long live the heroes who gave us the fatherland and liberty! Long Live Mexico!”?
Far from bellowing el grito the night of September 15, as is now a firm tradition, national hero Miguel Hidaglo y Costilla made his call to arms against the Spanish in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato, on the morning of Sunday, September 16, between 7 and 8 a.m., according to the Encyclopedia of Mexico. This contradicts many historians who say he spoke in the small hours of September 15 or 16.
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