The National Anthem Of Mexico - The Significance

Pictures of the Historical battles of Mexico, happened to grace the walls of the bedroom in which Mexico's National Anthem was conceived

. In the last two articles in this series we talked about how the lyrics instill pride for the Fatherland, and evoke feelings of national unity. What has been the long term impact of the anthem and what, if any, has been it's cultural significance? Do the lyrics hold great sentiment for the people of Mexico today, or do they ring hollow in the 21st century?

The country was still recovering from a nasty war with the USA, when Francisco Gonzalez sat down in that dark bedroom in 1853, and started working on his composition. The Mexican-American War was just two years long, ending in 1848 with the US as the victor, and Mexico was humbled and dejected by its outcome. In addition, there was a great deal of cultural rivalry in Mexico, and half of their territory was also lost to America (Upper California and Texas). The caste system, although not official, was still present and slavery had not yet been eradicated. As a unifying factor for people of different groups and different regions to come together, the National Anthem has worked well.

In 2004 the 150th anniversary of the Mexican National Anthem marked an event that symbolized just how important the composition is in Mexican culture. The government organized a nationwide singing of the anthem, from coast to coast; Mexicans living in other countries even participated once they were notified. For those few minutes, every person of Mexican heritage sang their nation's anthem and felt unity, no matter where they were in the world.

The Mexican National Anthem is such a major part of the Mexican culture that it is even used as a sort of litmus test to see if a person is actually of Mexican descent. Two men were caught breaking into a building in Tokyo in 2006, for instance. They produced Mexican passports, but the authorities were doubtful on the authenticity of the passports. So, the men were asked to sing the Mexican National Anthem. Once it was discovered that they were unable to sing the Nation Anthem, they confessed to being citizens of Colombia, with fake passports.

A similar incident occurred on Mexican soil, in which a young Afro-Mexican man was stopped by police on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua. The anthem was used sometimes as a means of determining a person's true national identity by the police; if it could be sung properly then they knew someone was telling the truth about their Mexican origins. It may seem a little unusual to use the national anthem as a means of proving or disproving a person's nationality, but in the absence of official documents in a country that is often fraught with illegal immigrants, it seems a good alternative.

by: Robert Nickel

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