Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico!

This past week I was lucky enough to spend the 15th in Mexico while the City celebrated  their independence day. Although the true Independence day is the 16th (not 5 de mayo you fools) most of Mexico City ramps up their celebration the 15th. There are festivals, parties, fairs, dances, and more. All of which accumulate with “el grito” or the yell at 11/12 pm the night of the 15th. This year the celebration fell on a Sunday and the holiday the following Monday.

As this was my first independence day in Mexico, and potentially the last, I wanted to make the most of my time. I figured I had two main options: go to the zocalo (the center) with thousands of other people and watch the show in live or I could walk around Coyoacan before going over to my friends house and eating her grandma’s homemade pozole. For me this was a no brainer. I spent the day walking around the multitude of stalls and listening to some great music in Coyoacan, and then went over to my friends house for dinner.

After dinner we got ready and went to a Kermes party.  A Kermes party is very Mexican. Typically held outside, you are offered a variety of traditional Mexican food while a live band plays, people dance, and others play different traditional Mexican games. I had such a fun time eating elote and dancing, dancing, dancing. I got to meet a group of my friend’s friends and their families.

At 11 we all walked to the front of the building and listened to the speech given by the president of this particular organization and participate in “el grito” . We cheered, we chanted, we sang.  If you ever have a chance to attend a Kermes I highly recommend it.