SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio’s yearly celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month has gone virtual, and the benefits that come with it will remain even after the pandemic.
“Nothing can stop the tenacity that San Antonio has to celebrate its culture.” Said Irma Iris Durán de Rodríguez with the Asociacion de Charros en San Antonio.
San Antonio is not letting the coronavirus stop it from celebrating Hispanic heritage, but it’s going to look a little different this year.
“We’re taking our annual celebration of Mexican Independence Day and Hispanic heritage month online with Fiestas Patrias, San Antonio,” said District 1 Councilman and Honorary Diez y Seis Commission Chair Roberto C. Treviño.
Virtual festivities are planned throughout the month, kicking off with a celebration of Diez Y Sies. It commemorates when Father Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla called for Mexican independence from Spanish rule. On September 15, 1810, near midnight, the priest made the famous Grito, or cry.
“On September 16th is when the war officially started and lasted for over a decade,” Durán de Rodríguez said.
The events will be free to stream on the City of San Antonio Department of Arts And Culture’s website, as well as its Youtube and Facebook pages and through TVSA. They include a mariachi festival, explorations of Mexican revolutionary history, and a traditional charreada.
“The Charreada is a type of Mexican Rodeo,” Durán de Rodríguez said. “We don’t call them rodeos. We actually are older than the rodeo by a couple hundred years.”
The changes to this year’s Fiestas Patrias is expected to change the way San Antonians experience the celebration for years to come.
“When we do the parade the parade’s done. we go and do the celebration, celebration’s done and then we’re sitting somewhere with a cold glass of tea going 'Whoa, we get a break until next year,'” said Avenida Guadalupe Executive Director Gabriel Q. Velasquez. “Because we’re putting this stuff up online, it’s gonna live online.”
The complete list of events can be found on the events page at getcreativesanantonio.com.