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. This work looks at how Independence Day festivities have provided a medium for informal education.

Chapter 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

This 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.