Description
Book SynopsisViva México! Viva la Independencia! Celebrations of September 16 examines the Independence holiday, exploring how this most important public festival in the civic calendar has given Mexicans a rich tradition of national celebration that is part creation myth, part official pomp, and part popular merrymaking. The editors examine how Independence Day festivities have provided a medium for informal education, sketching on the canvas of the public sphere national values, glorifying specific historical events and individuals, and celebrating government plans and achievements. Since 1823, this festival has served as an essential contribution to the conversion of Mexicans to common ideals, as people across the country express their national identity with the cry, ''Viva México! Viva la Independencia!''
Trade ReviewThis exceptional collection of essays brings the rites of Independence and Revolution to life by giving the actions of the original participants new meaning in the social and political contexts of their times. -- John Mason Hart, University of Houston
The focused nature of this volume is its strength, taking a single event and showing different historical aspects of it from independence through the modern era. * Latin American Research Review *
Anyone who has experience the eve of September 16 in Mexico, felt the crush of bodies in the Zòcalo, seen the magnificent fireworks, and heard the official cries of '¡Viva!'—as well as the obscene popular replies—instinctively knows the deep significance of Independence for the Mexican mentality. Finally, a book that reveals the political struggles behind the civic holiday that shaped Mexico's national identity. This is an important work of cultural history, as vibrant and complex as the celebration it examines. -- Jeffrey Pilcher, The Citadel
Historians are gradually filling in the gaps in our knowledge about nineteenth-century Mexico. The essays in ¡Viva México! ¡Viva la Independencia! help us understand the links between popular culture, political symbolism and mythmaking, and state-building during this tumultuous century. -- Mark Wasserman, Rutgers University
This book is a welcome addition to the study of public commemorations in Latin America. * Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, (Jilas) *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: The Functions of Patriotic Ceremony in Mexico Chapter 2 Images of Independence in the Nineteenth Century: The Grito de Dolores, History and Myth Chapter 3 The Junta Patriótica and the Celebration of Independence in Mexico City, 1825–1855 Chapter 4 The First Independence Celebrations in San Luis Potosí, 1824–1847 Chapter 5 San Angel as the Site of National Festivals in the 1860s Chapter 6 Conservatives Contest the Meaning of Independence, 1846–1855 Chapter 7 New Celebrations of Independence: Puebla (1869) and Mexico City (1883) Chapter 8 The Capital Commemorates Independence at the Turn of the Century Chapter 9 1910 Mexico City: Space and Nation in the City of the Centenario Chapter 10 The 1921 Centennial Celebration of Mexico's Independence: State Building and Popular Negotiation Chapter 11 Postrevolutionary Contexts for Independence Day: The "Problem" of Order and the Invention of Revolution Day, 1920s–1940s Chapter 12 Suggested Readings Chapter 13 About the Editors and Contributors Chapter 14 Index
