I interviewed a really good friend of mine who is 20 years old and moved to the United States from Mexico City pretty recently to go to school. I thought he would be a perfect person to interview because I really don’t know much about Mexican culture especially that of Mexico City. Through some research and discovery, I did find that the city was the center for celebration and festivals across the nation and that people come here for the wonderful events. However, I wanted to find out which festivals my friend was a part of during his childhood.

Collector: “Were there any celebrations or events that you regularly took part during your life in Mexico City?”

Informant: “Yes of course, there are a lot of festivals that occur every year. One is Independence Day which is on the night of September 15th. The main square is decorated with lights and it turns into a huge party with music, drinking and a lot of really good Mexican food. At this celebration the President of Mexico rings a huge bell and after he rings it and we all shout the famous names of important Mexican heroes and then yell “Viva Mexico!”. It is a huge party that I go to every year with family and friends. The next morning there is parades and stuff that we also go to. It is a lot of fun.”

This was a really cool interview because he has been one of my best friends at school but I didn’t really know the culture from which he came from. I wanted to do a little more research on Mexican independence because I still didn’t know much about why they celebrate on this day. September 16th was the day Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla uttered the “Cry of Dolores” which encouraged Mexicans to free themselves and fight the Spaniards for their rights. He got every one in the churches to revolt in what became known as The Siege of Guanajuato. This ended up being the start of a war which gave them independence.