1. DÍA DE INDEPENDENCIA DE MEXICO

2. EL QUINCE Y DIECISÉIS DE SEPTIEMBRE

3. Thousands of years ago, many cultural groups of native peoples lived in Mexico:

4. THEY LIVED IN LARGE CITIES WITH BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK AND BUILDINGS AND BUILD PYRAMIDS USING STONES. BUT THEN…

5. IN 1521 SPANISH SOLDIERS CONQUERED THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO AND SPANIARDS TREATED THE NATIVE PEOPLE VERY BADLY. AFTER 300 YEARS OF SPANISH RULE…

6. in 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo, the son of Spaniards, inspired the natives to revolt. He rang the church bells and called on the people to take up arms.

7. The Mexicans finally won independence on September 16, 1821 about 11 years after Hidalgo’s initial speech calling for a revolution.

8. Today on September 15 th and 16 th Mexicans celebrate the beginning of Mexican Independence from Spain. The have fiestas, música, desfiles, y fuegos artificiales.

9. The festival reaches a dramatic peak on September 15 at 11 p.m. when the Mexican president appears on the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City to recite the "Grito de Dolores.“ Televisions all over the country will be tuned in to him, fiestas will be going on, but everyone will stop to repeat the "grito" (cry) with him: "Long Live Independence! Long Live Mexico! Death to Bad Government!"