Mexico commemorates its Independence Day with the traditional shout in the Zócalo
More than 300,000 people attended the celebration led by Claudia Sheinbaum, according to the Mexico City government secretariat.
Photo of Claudia Sheinbaum at the celebration
On Sept. 16 Mexico commemorates the beginning of its independence, a movement that began in 1810 with the shout by the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the town of Dolores, which at the time belonged to the district of Guanajuato.
Every year, Mexicans celebrate this date with the national festivities, the highlight of which takes place on the evening of Sept. 15, when the sitting president delivers the traditional "grito," or shout of independence, from the balcony of the National Palace.
This year, the ceremony was led by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who received the Mexican flag and delivered commemorative speeches before the crowd gathered in Mexico City's Zócalo.
The origin of the shout of Dolores
The bell that Miguel Hidalgo rang in the early morning of Sept. 16, 1810, to call on the people to take up arms against the Spanish government was preserved, after the end of the War of Independence, by the liberal governments as one of the main symbols of the beginning of the struggle for independence.
Today, the Bell of Dolores has been restored and is on display in a niche above the central balcony of the National Palace, in Mexico City's historic center. Every year on Sept. 15, the president of Mexico is responsible for ringing it before the crowd gathered in the Zócalo, in remembrance of the call with which Hidalgo began the struggle for independence.
Sheinbaum leads the shout of independence
On the night of Sept. 15, 2026, Claudia Sheinbaum led the shout of independence ceremony from the balcony of the National Palace.
The president received the Mexican flag and delivered speeches in honor of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Josefa Ortiz Téllez Girón, José María Morelos y Pavón, Leona Vicario, Vicente Guerrero, Gertrudis Bocanegra and Antonia Nava.
She also acknowledged indigenous peoples and people of African descent, migrants and the dignity of the Mexican people. The ceremony concluded with the traditional "¡Viva México!"
More than 300,000 people in the Zócalo
While attendees awaited the start of the festivities in the capital's Zócalo, songs by José José, such as "El Triste," and by Juan Gabriel, such as "Así Fue," livened up the wait.
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