Each month, various governments, groups and organizations, raise awareness on a variety of issues. For instance, the month of September is National Yoga, National Fish, National Prostate, National Chiari Malformation, Life Insurance Awareness and National Hispanic Heritage Month. The focus of this week’s column will be Life Insurance Awareness. Just kidding, let’s talk about hispanic heritage.
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15. The goal is to recognize contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States. It is a time to commemorate and celebrate Latino heritage and culture. President Lyndon Johnson approved Hispanic Heritage Week and Ronald Reagan extended the week to a month in 1988.
One might ask why begin on the 15th of the month. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all declared their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. Mexico, Chile and Belize also celebrate independence days in September.
Let’s take a closer look at Mexico. A common theme in Mexican mural art is the story known as the Grito de Dolores (Cry from Dolores). On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a priest serving the people of Dolores, rang the church bell calling for independence from the Spanish crown. Hidalgo was executed before a firing squad. The war between Mexico and Spain lingered on for eleven more years, but eventually Mexico won their long battle for independence in 1821.
In 1821, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were provinces of the First Mexican Empire. This Empire extended from Oregon to Costa Rica. Thus, the Empire declared it’s independence from Spain, on September 15, 1821. As these five countries achieved their own autonomy and statehood from Mexico, they will never forget the road to their own independence and continue to celebrate with great rigor their independence from Spain.
In 1823, under Mexican authority, our mission here in Sonoma was established under the guidance of Father Altimira. In the same year, the First Mexican Empire split into two groups, the Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States, a northern group) and the Federal Republic of Central America, a southern group. Between 1838 and 1841, civil wars began to erode the Central American Republic, resulting in ultimate independence for each of the five countries.
Mexican independence came with gruesome consequences. Spanish forces met with rebels at the Calderon River in 1811. Spanish forces defeated the rebels and forced them towards what is now the US-Mexican border. Father Hidalgo and other rebels could not elude the Spanish forces and were captured. All of the rebel leaders were sentenced to death and shot in the back as a sign of disgrace. The Spanish forces cut the heads off of Hidalgo and three other rebels and hung them from the four corners of the granary in Guanajuato, an act designed to discourage rebel activities.
Ten years later, in a final push for independence, rebel forces from all over Mexico joined Colonel Iturbide to defeat Spanish forces. It became clear to the viceroy, that Iturbide’s army of rebel forces would become victorious, and he resigned his post. On August 24, 1821, the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Cordoba, which recognized Mexican Independence.
Iturbide was proclaimed the President of the Regency in 1821 and ultimately declared the Constitutional Emperor of Mexico. Iturbide was the original designer of the first Mexican flag. Iturbide, just a few short years later was considered to be a traitor.
Iturbide had left the new nation for Europe with his family, but returned to Mexico with rumors floating around that Spain was considering retaking land it once held on the Pacific coast. He returned to Mexico in 1824 and was arrested by a local commander, Felipe de la Garza, in the village of Padilla. Iturbide was tried and found guilty and sentenced to death. Though declaring he was not a traitor, he was shot dead on July 19, 1824.
