Video Clips of Mexican Secular Rituals

Independence Day (16th September) in Guaracha, 1990.

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The Grito: as the hour of the original declaration of Independence on the night of the 15th September, 1810, arrives, the crowd shouts "Viva" as the names of the heroes of Independence, Hidalgo and Morelos, are called out, and the master of ceremonies calls on people to be careful when they fire their pistols.

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A float in the Independence Parade which takes place on the 16th of September, is followed by women dressed as cowboys on horseback.

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The village officials with the national flag are followed by a mariachi band and then by members of the ejido (the land reform community). In the next stage of the procession, children parade, beginning with the youngest in the kindergarten.

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A boys drum and bugle band plays as one of the festival Queens gets down from her float.

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The closure of the ceremonies in the village plaza. A schoolgirl gives a formal patriotic oration in the highly rhetorical style typical of such public rituals, and then one of the teachers leads the singing of the National Anthem.

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The event ends with displays of dancing in a style characteristic of this ranchero-dominated regional culture, performed by children from the community schools.