Día de Independencia, Mexico Independence Day

In the very early hours of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his Church bell in the central Mexico village of Delores (now Delores Hidalgo) and issued his El Grito de la Independencia (Call For Independence), calling his flock to revolution. The excesses of the Spanish occupation had become intolerable for the enslaved peasants of Mexico and Hidalgo took the lead in organizing the Mexican people along with the Criollos or Mexican born Spaniards to attack the hated Spanish Colonial Government and to drive the invaders from Mexico.

The battle would rage for eleven years before being ended on February 21, 1821 with the Plan Of Iguala, or the "Plan of the Three Guarantees" which established Mexican Independence, Social Equality for all social and ethnic groups in the country and acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church as the official religion of the new country. * I would have supported two of the three...

In remembrance of this victory for the People, every September 15 at 11:00PM the Grito or Cry For Independence is issued by the President and all State Governors from their respective palace balconies. It goes like this with the speaker calling the statement and the crowd answering with "Viva": 

¡Viva los heroes que nos dieron patria! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Hidalgo! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Morelos! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Allende! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Aldama y Matamoros! ¡Viva!
¡Viva nuestra independencia! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Mexico! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Mexico! ¡Viva!
¡Viva Mexico! ¡Viva!

My friend Les has just published an excellent post covering the times before the Revolution, explaining what lead up to the War For Independence. It will give you a greater understanding of what was going on in Mexico.