Yesterday Mexico gave el grito. The grito is a re-enactment of the original rousing sermon that kicked off the Mexican revolution. The sermon, given by priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, ended with cries of “death to the plundering government!  Long live the pueblo mexicano!” accompanied by some fervent ringing of the church bell.   The current one is basically a long stream of “viva’s” – viva México, viva Hidalgo, viva Oaxaca, viva la Revolución, etc, etc. The grito takes place at 11 p.m. on the 15th and initiates Mexican independence day, which seems to straddle the 15th and the 16th ambiguously.

For me, independence day meant the woman at my favorite juice stand in the market had her face painted red, white and green, there were flags everywhere, and even more fireworks than usual went off at random points in the night.  For Mexicans, it meant threats of narco-terrorism, resentment against the failures of Calderón’s government, reluctant patriotism, and a spectacular borrachera (Mexican Spanish actually has a noun for a fiesta, or not so fiesta, made with the explicit purpose of getting drunk).

Mexico’s in an odd state at the moment.  Many people think it’s teetering on the edge of revolution.  There’s a theory that every one hundred years, the country gets itself into a revolutionary fervor, and something happens.  With the bicentennial coming up next year, people are getting antsy.  Yet Mexico’s such a mixed bag of cultures and social classes and aesthetics and lifestyles that it’s hard to imagine any sort of united front.

One thing that does seem to unite many Mexicans, however, is a nihilistic view of life as short, painful, meaningless, and yet sweet enough to make you weep.  There’s God, la virgin, la patría; there’s tequila and a song.  These just might be the two poles between which Mexican popular consciousness vacillates.

In honor of this Mexicanism unchallenged thus far by Calderón and creeping mega-mall culture, I give you Pedro Infante, in a classic from Mexico’s golden age of cinema.  Here’s Pedro getting blissfully drunk and singing José Alfredo Jiménez’s Camino de Guanajuato.  Find the lyrics below – pour yourself a cup of mezcal, remember the good old days, resign yourself to the reality of death, and canta with all you’ve got.

No vale nada la vida
la vida no vale nada
comienza siempre llorando
y así llorando se acaba
por eso es que en este mundo
la vida no vale nada

Bonito León Guanajuato
su feria con su jugada
ahí se apuesta la vida
y se respeta al que gana
alla en mi León Guanajuato
la vida no vale nada

Camino de Guanajuato
que pasas por tantos pueblos
no pases por Salamanca
que ahí me hiere el recuerdo
vete rodeando vereda
no pases porque me muero

Camino de Santa Rosa
la sierra de Guanajuato
ahí nomas tras lomita
se ve Dolores Hidalgo
yo ahí me quedo paisano
allí es mi pueblo adorado