Lubbockites marked Saturday’s Mexican independence day early, gathering Friday evening for a “grito” re-enactment paying tribute to the late Catholic Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s contribution to the nation’s independence from Spain.
The event at the Landwer-Manicapelli House kicked off a weekend of events celebrating the Mexican holiday.
Miguel Levario, an associate professor of history at Texas Tech specializing in United States/Mexico borderlands history, led the ceremony featuring a re-enactment of Hidalgo’s declaration. The priest is known for delivering his grito, or cry, in the small Mexican parish of Dolores, setting in motion Mexico’s war for independence from Spain.
As the re-enactment progressed during the ceremony, a victory bell rang as a Mexican flag was waved. Many in the group of about a dozen people shouted “Viva!”
