#IBELIEVE book of rants

hispanic heritage month

ahrreeeeee!

this month is the month of fiesta for most of the countries in latin america. because over two hundred years ago, we all decided we were not taking more of spain's shit (sorry, spain. i dont mean to offend. i love spain, but i also like being free).

i obviously know mexico's story like the back of my hand. so let me tell it to you. but first, lets mention all the other brothers and sisters who will be celebrating with us this month.

-mexico: september 16th, 1810.

-chile: september 18th, 1810.

-costa rica: september 15th, 1821.

-el salvador: september 15th, 1821.

-guatemala: september 15th, 1821.

-honduras: september 15th, 1821.

-nicaragua: september 15th, 1821.

all of these got their independence from spain.

so let me tell you mexico's story. sadly, i dont know much about how the others got their independence, but its probably a badass story, just like mexico's.

this is what happened:

spain arrived in mexico around late 1490s- early 1500s. and they basically took the land from the natives, raped the women, and infected them with disease. fact: std's had not existed in the new world until the spanish arrived and raped the native women. sad life. they stripped the people of their language, their religion, their culture, and their customs.

for about three hundred years they ruled over mexico. until the people were done with spain's shit. so they decided to make secret plans. and they had top secret meetings under the disguise that they were a 'book club'. like seriously, how fucking smart.

and on the night of september 15th, they decided to strike. at midnight, going into the 16th, a priest named miguel hidalgo rang the bells of his church.

he gave a famous speech that no one actually knows the exact words to because there was no way to record it and no one wrote it down. but the general jist of it was that he said they needed to rise up against spain because it was about time that mexico had its freedom. and the people followed him and the war for independence began. 

mexico didnt actually get its independence until 1821, but we like to celebrate as though we have been free since 1810 because it was when we fought back.

SO YEAH.

happy independence to all the hispanic nations who got their freedom from spain, even if it didnt happen in september. 

here's to freedom.

here's to bravery, and the heroes who fought to give us that freedom.

here's to latin america.

-clary xx