El Grito!

"El Grito"

Today Mexico celebrates its independence from Spanish Colonial Rule with something called, "El Grito."

My wife, Aurora is one of the last living descendants of "El Pipila," hero of the Mexican Independence. After Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo summoned the people of Dolores Hidalgo to arms against the Spanish by ringing the church bells and crying freedom, he gathered a rag-tag band of insurgents together. 

Father Hidalgo giving the Cry of Freedom in Dolores Hidalgo.

When about 600 men armed with machetes and muskets arrived in San Miguel de Allende on the following morning they were joined by a creole Captain in the King's army, Ignacio Allende, and another group of armed men perhaps numbering around 1000. Together they marched on the state capital, Guanajuato, where they faced stiff opposition from the Spanish. Their stronghold was the Alhondiga de Granaditos, or state granary. 

The Alhondiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato

Stymied, the rebels were unable to advance. The sniper fire from the granary ramparts tore into the insurgents, sending them back. Finally on September 28, 1810, a miner called "El Pipila" strapped a huge stone to his back, and with a fiery torch in one hand  charged the main gate. 

The door at the Alhondiga de Granaditas, now a museum of the independence.

Look closely at the nameplate and you will see "Hidalgo." Here is where the head of Hidalgo, leader of the Independence Movement was placed in a cage high above the citizens, that they might never rebel again.

Aurora at the Alhondiga de Granaditas where her ancestor rallied the insurgents.

Views of Guanajuato by the Alhondiga de Granaditas

Clocktower of the marketplace near the Alhondiga de Granaditas

Artist's Sculpture of the "Pipila"

"El Pipila" set fire to the huge wooden door guarding the granary and the insurgents raced into the fort where the Spanish troopssoon surrendered. Hidalgo's band of insurgents won the day and went on to challenge the Spanish Rule of Mexico. The "Pipila's" brave deeds led to the eventual Independence of Mexico.

Yesterday, we attended a conference at the Alhondiga de Granaditas where the memory of "El Pipila" was honoured by local congress members.

Ceremony by the Museum authorities and a local congress member.

Arturo Trujillo Amaro's grandmother is the baby girl held on her mother's lap.  (Centre) Vicente Amaro, grandson of the Pipila is standing on the right. Photo taken in 1904 before the Mexican Revolution.

Aurora's uncle Arturo Trujillo Amaro, Director of a high school in Mexico City and grandnephew of the Pipila's great-grand-daughter, speaking on the life and times of Mexico's hero.

Various monuments today commemorate the heroism of the Pipila, in Guanajuato as well as in San Miguel de Allende.

Pipila Monument in Guanajuato

View from the Pipila Monument. The University of Guanajuato is the grey building at  left.

Pipila Monument in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato