American Latino Club
The American Latino Club will meet on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. in Clubhouse 2 to celebrate Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16). There will be brief history lesson and a video in honor of Mexico. Live music will be provided by Mariachi Real San Jose.
The lunch menu will be provided by Tacos Factory Mexican Food. The meal choices are: carnitas (pork) burrito; chile relleno (cheese); and a chicken torta (sandwich). All meals include rice and beans, with flan and choco flan (chocolate flan) for dessert and coffee, tea and lemonade for beverages. The lunch is $17 for members and $19 for guests. Submit payment and meal choice to Treasurer Rachel Fullum by dropping it off in her mailbox at 1371 Oakmont Road., 150-L, or by US mail (allow seven days for delivery). Payment by check should be made payable to the American Latino Club, deadline is no later than 3 p.m. on Sept. 8. People who bring their own lunch can pay $5 for beverages. Call Fullum at 310-869-7730 to RSVP.
People are encouraged to come to the meeting dressed in traditional Mexican attire. There will be a visit from the Mexican Consul of the Mexican Embassy in Orange County who will re-enact “El Grito” (The Cry). Just before midnight on Sept. 15, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a priest from the small town of Dolores near Guanajuato in Mexico’s colonial heartland made an impulsive decision that revolutionized Mexican history and resulted in the war that led to Mexico’s independence. Ordering the church bells to be rung, Hidalgo cried out to the native Mexicans and the working classes of mixed origin, urging them to stand up and take back the lands stolen from their forefathers, ending with the now-famous cry: “Long live Mexico!” Every year on the eve of Independence Day, the president of Mexico re-enacts the cry from the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City while ringing the same bell Hidalgo used in 1810. During the patriotic speech, the president calls out the names of the fallen heroes who died during the War of Independence and ends the speech by shouting “¡Viva México!” three times, followed by the Mexican National Anthem.
—Miryam Fernandez
