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Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Austin Public Library
(512) 974-7394 or (512) 626-8404
Austin History Center Celebrates Diez y Seis at Republic Square Park
Exhibit photos depict past celebrations
AUSTIN—The midday sun highlights a young folclórico dancer’s dark hair as she spins and twirls her colorful skirt to mariachi music; two elderly women, sisters, are laughing as they swing their arms and tap their feet to the insistent rhythms of a tejano band. A young boy runs back and forth and back again, the music and the dancing, the smell of tamales and the bright colors making him mad with a joy he cannot contain, so he runs and screams with glee.
These are some of the people who will come together in celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day, known as the Diez y Seis Festival, or 16th of September, at the fourth annual event in Republic Square in downtown Austin.
For the fourth year, Austinites of Mexican heritage have come back to the park that was once known as Mexican Park and the Austin History Center’s Mexican American Liaison, Irene Gonzales, will be on hand with a photographic exhibit depicting celebrations of the past.
“A lot of people still don’t know that, in the early 1900's, the area surrounding Republic Square was known as ’Little Mexico’ and from the 1870's until 1927, when most Latinos were forced to move to East Austin, Republic Square park was where the Diez y Seis Festival was celebrated,” Gonzales said. “The Austin history Center was instrumental in that information coming to light and we are looking forward to showing just some of the photographic treasures we have depicting the lives of Mexican Americans in Austin.”
“It is still an awakening to the connection between the Latino community and Republic Square Park,” agrees Gloria Mata Pennington, who, for the past several years, has helped plan the Diez y Seis festival. “It gives me a chill and warms my heart to hear mariachi music resounding in the park the same way it did more than one hundred years ago. This is our history, and it is important that we reclaim it.”
Mexicans commemorate September 16, 1810, as the day they gained Independence from Spain. The history is marked by Miguel Hidalgo’s famous grito, “Mexicanos, Viva Mexico!” which urged native Mexicans to fight the Spanish to recover their lands. This grito, or cry, is celebrated every year at midnight on September 15, and is considered the catalyst for the fight for Mexican Independence.
The Diez y Seiz celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Republic Square Park, 422 Guadalupe Street. For more information about the Austin History Center’s exhibit, please call K. Anoa Monsho at (512) 974-7394.
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