Author: V. Iyengar, Megaphone Editor-in-chief

Credit: The San Francisco Peninsula

This past Sunday, September 15, 2024 marked the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. In lieu of this special day, a number of Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations were held across the Bay Area. The festivals/parades were not only celebrations of hispanic culture and Mexican Independence from Spain, but also a celebration of Mexican-Americans and their accomplishments and history in the United States.

Such festivities took place all over the Bay Area, notably in San Jose and in San Francisco, and for the first time in Richmond and San Pablo, where the celebration was so big, it stretched over two cities. 

These festivals celebrate two events: Mexican Independence Day, as well as the day Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua gained independence from Spain. 

In San Francisco and San Jose, the highlight of the celebrations was a celebration called El Grito de Dolores, wherein festival goers recreate the war cry that kicked off the Mexican war for independence. 

The festival was also a celebration of Latin culture, food, folk dances, traditional Latin music,  and Lucha Libre, which could be found at celebrations throughout the Bay Area. 

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th, and the aforementioned festivals commemorate events that occurred in history around this time. 

One significant day to many Mexican Americans is September 16th, which is known as Mexico’s Independence Day. On September 16, 1810, “El Grito de Dolores”, or the Cry of Dolores was yelled by Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgoy Costilla, which triggered the Mexican war for independence. The war was finally won on Sept 28th, 1821, and Mexico became an independent nation.

Every year on the eve of Independence Day, the Mexican president re-enacts the cry from the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City, while ringing the same bell Hidalgo used in 1810.

Similarly, September 15th marks the anniversary of another significant day in history for many Hispanic-Americans. On September 15th, 1821, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua declared Independence from Spain, and came together to form a political union called the Central American Federation, of which they were all member-states, which lasted for almost 20 years, dissolving in the early 1840s.