July 9, 2024 • 40 mins
The Anthems podcast explores the powerful narrative behind Mexico's national anthem, "El Himno Nacional Mexicano." Patrick delves into the historical context of the anthem, linking it to Mexico's rich and tumultuous past, including the impact of the Spanish conquest and the struggle for independence. The episode reveals how the anthem reflects themes of national pride, sacrifice, and unity, with vivid imagery that evokes the bravery of Mexican citizens. Patrick also shares the stories of the poet Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra and composer Jaime Nunó, who contributed to the anthem's creation amidst a backdrop of war and national identity. Through this exploration, listeners gain insight into how anthems serve as reflections of a nation's soul, embodying its struggles and aspirations.
A note on audio here: I recorded this in a 95 degree Fahrenheit booth with the AC off and it was a very sweaty hour of of my life. It's impossible to imagine sitting through that again despite my struggle with background appliance noise everywhere. Sorry it's a bit less this time.
Notes!
- https://web.archive.org/web/20111209132114/http://www.nd.edu/~cneal/CRN_Papers/Schulte10_Sci_Chicxulub.pdf
- https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/11/mexico-city-is-sinking-running-out-of-water-how-can-it-be-saved#:~:text=Mexico%20City%20is%20sinking%2C%20as,itself%20today%20in%20stunning%20ironies.
- https://www.npr.org/2018/09/14/647601623/mexico-city-keeps-sinking-as-its-water-supply-wastes-away
- https://www.salon.com/2007/08/30/upton/#:~:text=Interviewers%20handed%20people%20a%20blank,familiar%2C%22%20the%20survey%20found
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Near_East/1WOPkmChaFsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Anatolia+cradle+of+civilization&pg=PP8&printsec=frontcover
- Mt. Pleasant, Jane (2006). "The science behind the Three Sisters mound system: An agronomic assessment of an indigenous agricultural system in the northeast". In Staller, John E.; Tykot, Robert H.; Benz, Bruce F. (eds.). Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize. Amsterdam: Academic Press. pp. 529–537. ISBN 978-0-1236-9364-8.
- https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/9/mode/1up
- https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/85636/gonzalo-guerrero
- Ida Altman, et al., The Early History of Greater Mexico, Pearson, 2003
- https://archive.org/details/historyofmexico00burt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
Hello and welcome to theAnthems podcast. I'm Patrick, and
I'm here to tell you the story of
a song that helps to tell the story
of a nation. Today we are taking
an8900 1 mile leap, or 14,325 km, right
around the great circle that connects
the two episodes. And I do have a
spreadsheet for all of them. Maybe
you'll see it someday. That is just
a bit more than the equatorial diameter
of the earth, but what's less fun
about that distance is sound. Takes
about 11 hours to go that far, but
it can only be heard that far if
it is significantly louder than a
nuclear explosion. But I have not
done the math for that because it's
a sound so loud it sort of doesn't
makesense in a physics kind of way. Plus,
it's got me wandering right into
relevant history, because a very
loud thing happened there called
thechicxulub impact. The best estimates
Ican find for that put it at maybe
300decibels. So about twice as loud
asthe eruption of Krakatau, which is
the loudest thing that humans have
ever measured at about 180 decibels.
Andit was heard thousands of miles away.
And of course, the Chicxulub impact
crater is from the meteor that killed
the dinosaurs. And that means that
we're going to talk about Mexico.
Thereare two concurrent reasons that I
have selected Mexico for this episode.
One is that my daughter requested
itbecause she said she was curious
aboutthe country. Two is that very day
she mentioned the request, I learned
that Mexico was on track to elect
oneof two women as the president for
the first time ever. This is a country
I did go into the reading for knowing
alittle bit more about than usual,
atleast in a very specific period of
time, because I listened to Mike
Duncan's Revolution podcast, and
one of them was the mexican revolution.
Andthat kind of matters in the story
ofa national anthem, particularly this
one, although it doesn't always matter
in an anthem story. But I've learned
abunch getting ready to tell the story
of El Himno Nacional Mexicano, literally
the mexican national anthem. And
I'm looking forward to sharing it
with you. Despite it being one of
the two countries bordering the one
I live in. I have not been to Mexico,
but I have gotten pretty close to
it. Back in the nineties, I went
tovisit some family in Scottsdale,
Arizona,thereabouts, and we drove to San
Diego to go to the zoo. And if you
were to drive from the zoo south
toTijuana so you could visit the, I
don't know, the Agua Caliente tower.
You would drive nearly 20 miles and
it takes about 45 minutes nowadays,
soyou would need to loop the two minute
32nd version of the anthem that you're
about to hear and listen to it, I
don't know, like 20 times. Mexicanos
agri.com Mastano Enemy Bronzo Blanda
Swell Exalarin consolido para Mexicano
agri Doa Prista my initial reaction
isthat I'm not wildly enthusiastic
about thesong. As usual, I have listened to
dozens of versions of the anthem
before settling on this. I do appreciate
the performer and the delivery and
chose this because it is a well done
version of the song. As you will
learn, this is an anthem that is
very mexican and it still gets to
be a good song, even though this
oneisn't on my playlist. More alarmingly
though, while reading for this episode,
I have learned that Mexico City is
sinking. Some places sink as much
as40 year in the city, which seems
absolutely ridiculous to me because
that's 15 inches and it has everything
todo with how cities have chosen to
manage their water resources. I will
admit that earth's fresh water situation
is one of the things that has me
existentially worried. But enough
withthat, because the existential portion
of my show should be brief. Those
arereal problems, but I can do little
other than encourage awareness. The
more pertinent question for our purposes
is where in the world the people
ofMexico City are. I am thankful to
report that at least as of 2000,
788percent of my fellow Americans are
capable of finding Mexico on a map.
I was worried for a moment before
Ilooked that up. So if you know where
the US is, just go south. One country.
If you know where Canada is, go south
too. South America is probably easier
to find, though, because it's quite
large and it's its own continent.
There isa little bit of Central America that
connects South America, and we call
that Panama. If you head northeast
about130 miles, you'll be just into Mexico.
I have come to learn the Olmec empire
was the earliest civilization in
the Americas and that it developed
independently of any others. This
makes the Mexico Valley one of the
eight cradles of civilization. And
what makes all eight of these places
cradles of civilization is that they
are all independently developed agriculture,
except for probably one that was
maybe initially a marine based civilization.
But it gives me an excuse to talk
about the three sisters. This is
apretty brilliant method of cultivation
thatthe indigenous people of the Americas
use to feed their people you grow
acenter row of maize, which is corn.
If you didn't know, then you add
rows of climbing beans on either
side,and sometime later, rows of squash.
Outside of those. The maize acts
asa trellis for the beans. The beans
act as a stabilizer for the maize.
They also fix nitrogen in the soil,
and the broad leaves of the squash
orpumpkins help with weeds, and they
act as a natural compost when they
start to die off. It's pretty cool
stuff and something that I'm glad
Iknow, because when I finally get
around the gardening or when I have
to, that's what I'll do. I can't
start all the way back at the Olmec
people, though, because that happened
before the road to the anthem really
starts. 2500 bce. Mexico was absolutely
aninteresting place, but it would make
for too long of a show, and it already
takes me too long to write these
things. So we're gonna skip about
1100 years of Olmec history, breeze
past all of the mayan cultural history
with just this statement, and then
drop into the spanish conquest of
the aztec empire, which places us
right in the beginning of the 16th
century. The first two people from
Europe in modern Mexico were shipwreck
survivors named Geronimo de Aguilar
andGonzalo Guerrero. Geronimo was rescued
from his mayan captors and became
atranslator for the Spanish, and Gonzalo
went full native initially. I'm sure
he was not thrilled to be taken in
as a slave, but he earned his freedom,
and he became a respected warrior.
Hehad a family, and he was duty bound
enough to the people that he declined
tobe rescued by Cortes, one of the
interesting but not terrible people
that I will have a podcast about
if Iever get to have a second show. These
guys were stranded there in 1511
cedar, and consider that a mere ten
years later, the capital of the aztec
empire fell to the Spanish. It's
probably mostly because like, a third
of the people that lived there died
from smallpox, and the Spanish had
gunpowder and mildly industrialized
warfare. Idon't mean to imply that the conquest
ofmodern Mexico as New Spain happened
super quickly because it did nothing.
The mayan empire was not defeated
intotality for almost 180 years, which
is absolutely crazy. The time span
of colonialism blows my mind more
and more. New Spain became the largest
and most important of the spanish
colonies, and it was administered
in one ofthe more racist methodologies I've
read about, although I think the
french system is more outrightly
dehumanizing the descending order
ofrights Washington. Spanish descent
andborn in Spain, they were the only
people that could be in government.
Thecreole people were of spanish descent,
but born in Mexico, they were wealthy
landowners and merchants with no
government voice at all. The mestizos,
orso called mixed race people, were
barely third class. And then the
indigenous people. You can frame
ithowever you want to frame it, but
they were essentially an enslaved
population. Despite the best efforts
oftheir colonial masters. People did
what people always do. They ate meals
together, they lived together, and
after a while started to forget why
they thought they were so different.
Andthey formed a new common group, and
they started hating somebody else,
this time for good reasons, because
theSpanish were not being great. The
fancy academic word for this is called
syncretism, and it's this blending
ofculture and ideas in Mexico that
ledto things like tequila, mariachi
music,and basically all of the deliciousness
thatis mexican cuisine. Of course, the
cultural mix of spanish european
cultureand the many indigenous cultures
didn'tproduce a distinct mexican culture
overnight. It happened over the course
of about 300 years that new Spain
wasaround, which is plenty. Well, long
enough for a bunch of different people
to land solidly on. I'm not sure
what's next, but it doesn't include
Bane anymore. Then Miguel Hidalgo
camealong, and up front, you're gonna
want to read more about this guy
onyour own, because he has a great
story, and I'm barely touching it.
He was a catholic priest. He mostly
functioned as a secular businessman
for thechurch. He was a challenger of the
king's authority, publicly doubted
theveracity of immaculate Conception,
whichwas kind of a big deal for a priest.
Inthe 18th century, he fathered five
children out of wedlock. During his
vow of celibacy. He dodged conviction
fromthe actual inquisition and then got
sent to Mexico, taught the indigenous
people to grow forbidden crops, took
up all of the causes of the criollos
andmestizos and the indigenous people.
Then he gave an incredible speech
called the cry of Dolores after his
plot to rebel against the government
wasdiscovered, and he led an army of
90,000 fed up peasants to their defeat
against the very well armed Spanish.
Then he was betrayed and then was
executed in a culmination to a series
of events that inspired the mexican
revolution. Suffice to say, he is
another guy on my list of wildly
interesting historical figures to
podcast about. He was not the person
that really led to the collapse of
New Spain, though, because that was
our old pal Napoleon. We're gonna
keep running into this guy, you know,
historical wrecking ball and such.
After he subdued Spain in 1808 and
put his brother on the throne there,
it led to a situation on the mexican
peninsula that is complicated enough
to skip, apart from saying that the
competing coups both failed and a
viceroy arrived from Spain, which
prompted Hidalgos call to arms. After
the good Father Hidalgo was executed
in1811, Jose Morelos, coincidentally
also acatholic priest, took up the leadership
mantle in the independence movement.
Hewas militarily much more successful
thanHidalgo, until the crown returned
topost napoleonic Spain, leading to
his defeat and execution in 1815.
Theinsurgency lived on, though, and
eventually military men began to
defect from Spain, and a declaration
ofindependence was promulgated in 1820,
after more than a decade of battles
andhardships, the army of the three
guarantees was formed from insurgents
andmilitary defectors, and within six
months they had defeated the viceroy's
forces and secured a treaty ceding
totheir demands. Spain, of course,
wantednothing to do with any of that and
refused to recognize mexican independence.
But it still happened. In fact, I
think that revolutions are kinda
always gonna happen, unless maybe
someone manages to get fair government
right. So probably never based on
the current state of the world. Regardless,
the people of Mexico decided that
more of the same was actually kind
of what they wanted to do with self
governance. And they tried first
tohave a monarch. They went around
looking for a sovereign. Due to spanish
meddling, they were unable to find
any takers. And this led the creole
elite to accept the proclamation
of Augustinde Turbide as emperor of Mexico,
a manborn in Mexico. And empire is actually
the right word here. Mexico was huge.
It used to stretch from the top of
the american state of California
all theway down to modern Panama. So a pretty
large territory, but it turbide did
that thing that a lot of people do
when they get into a position of
inscrutable power. And he became
adespot. And it turned out that he
was actually not such a fan of the
constitution. As he became more dictatorial
and dissolved congress. I bet you
can guess what was happening in the
background. The emperor had a guess.
And in December of 1822, Colonel
SantaAnna was relieved of his command
toquash the rebellion in its cradle.
Instead of that, he declared a republic
and called for congress to reconvene,
eventually winning over the rest
ofthe army, which caused the emperor
tosurrender in March of 1823. It took
the mexican people less than two
years to go from tossing the empire
toestablishing the United mexican state.
On October 4 of 1824, the same year
that both our poet and composer were
born, Francisco Gonzalez Boca Negro
was born in San Luis Potosi to a
spanish father and a mexican mother,
and in 1827 the family moved to Spain.
His father was exempted from the
law that expelled spanish nationals
fromthe country because he married a
mexican woman. But he was making
apoint, and I respect that. The family
was able to move back to Mexico in
1836, after the band was removed.
He wasinitially dedicated to commerce as
a vocation, but he loved the literary
and intellectual circles in Mexico.
Over time, he was a poet, a theater
critic, a playwright, an orator,
and acolumnist for various publications.
Eventually he became the general
administrator of Rhodes and the editor
of the official gazette of the supreme
government. I have no idea how he
got there, but at some point he became
separated from his family and he
contracted tuberculosis, leading
to hisdeath in April of 1861. I'll talk
about the specifics of how the anthem
comes about in a few. Here we again
have another writer that has a fairly
light historical footprint, even
though he seems to have been a decent
and more interesting than the record
states person. He is considered an
important person in the history of
Mexico, though, and he is buried
inthe rotunda of illustrious men in
Mexico City. Jamie Nuno Rocca was
born on September 8 in 1824, and
Icouldn't find any information about
his parents other than that they
died when he was less than nine years
old, poor kid. He had an uncle Bernardo,
though, that became his guardian,
andthis guy was all right, and he financed
Jamie's musical studies in Barcelona
andin Italy. By the time he was 15,
Nuno was writing music, and the very
first complete piece he made was
for mixed choir and piano. He was
married twice, not when he was 15.
This happened later. He had a child
in the first marriage and two in
the second. He was a composer, a
concert pianist, conductor, and an
opera director. In 1851, he came
tobe appointed as the conductor of
the band of the queen's regiment,
andduring a trip to Cuba, he totally
hitit off with the former mexican president
Santa Ana, who was there in Cuba
onone of his political exiles. After
becoming president again in 1853,
Jamie's pal asked him to come and
lead Mexico's military bands. Santa
Ana is another guy you should read
about because he has a very complicated
story. Jamie arrived just in time
for the national anthem contest,
andobviously he won more on that in
afew. After Santa Ana was deposed,
Nunoemigrated to the United States and
toured as a concert pianist in 1864.
I'm not sure when he got divorced
orwhen he moved back to Spain, but
hegot married to his second wife there
in 1873 again, at some point in the
timeline, he came back to the United
States to retire in upstate New York,
and he was discovered anew by a mexican
journalist in 1901, and ended up
getting invited back to be honored
forthe 50th anniversary of the anthem
inMexico. He died in 1908 of unspecified
causes, and in 1942 he was exhumed
andreburied alongside the poet in the
rotunda of illustrious men. So we
have the poet and the composer, but
how did we get the anthem from them?
I will pick the timeline back up.
In 1846, on the first day of May.
This was one year after Texas ended
its nine year independence for Mexico
by becoming a state and just days
before the US Congress declared war
on Mexico, which happened on May
13and followed an attack in disputed
territory. The mexican american war
led to the occupation of Mexico City
itself by the us military and subsequently
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Withthis treaty, Mexico sold the northern
territories to the US. The people
living there were granted full citizenship,
plus voting and property rights,
andthe US assumed the debt that Mexico
had to private us citizens. It also
led to the president's exile to Cuba
and some pretty serious national
disheartenment with the progress
of thecountry. So when the guy that lost
the war came back into power again,
aspart of his effort to raise national
morale, he established concurrent
contestsfor the lyrics and the music of a
new national anthem. Like I said,
ourpoet is a typical anthem writer and
we sort of know just a bit about
theguy. But that is, however, an amazing
and probably apocryphal tale about
him writing the anthem. His future
wife at the time, who is also his
cousin, was pressuring him to make
an entry into the contest, despite
hisinsistence that he wrote love poems
and that they are different things
from national anthems. She proceeded
tolock him into a disused bedroom and
refused to let him out until he produced
an entry. It is supposed to have
taken him 4 hours to write the mammoth
poem you'll hear later. So that and
all the things I've read saying this
is just a story give me doubts, but
it is a fun scenario to imagine.
Regardless of how the poem was ultimately
written, he did win by unanimous
vote,and it was made official on February
3of 1854. The music took a slightly
lessdirect path at first. A piece by
an italian composer, Giovanni Battacini,
was chosen. And I will just say one
thing about Giovanni. He is said
tohave turned the double bass into
arespectable instrument because he
was just so good. Maybe look him
upif you're into the double bass. However,
he was not that good at writing music
for lyrics that he'd never seen,
because that's like really hard.
Andthat meant that despite winning,
becauseit was actually a nice piece of music,
it just didn't work with the lyrics,
and people making the decision wanted
those lyrics. So they ditched the
song and they held a new contest.
Bythen, President General Santa Ana
had invited Jamie to Mexico, and
hedecided to make an entry himself.
It wasobvious that they went with his choice
because I'm talking about it, but
mostly because it's actually an excellent
piece of music. And I will describe
thatpresently to you. So on August 12
of 1854, they had the music in addition
to the lyrics. With that information,
I havethe ability to tell you that Mexico
got its official national anthem
onSeptember 16 of 1854, which is not
coincidentally, independence day
inMexico. Now I can discuss the song
itself. We are not presented with
arefreshingly simple song as in the
case of Nepal, but we are given a
highly technical italian march. It's
mostly played in bb major, and as
my knowledge of keys has increased,
I'velearned that it's a key with a bright
and uplifting feeling. The singing
feels like it is in a range for an
average person, about an octave and
a half. I think I can handle that.
And I'm nothing like great writing.
Thishas got me thinking that maybe I
like an anthem to be something that
basically anybody can sing. It's
food for thought for me. I guess
I'velearned from much smarter people
thanme that there is a mix of stepwise
motion and some large leaps in this
song which make it a dynamic piece
ofmusic. The mexican national anthem
does a lot to reach the mostly not
musically trained public. It's in
four four. It's basically all very
common progressions like 1451. It
essentially has no key modulation
and isbuilt so that the lyrics are very
clearly heard. It's an extremely
wellmade piece of music and another example
of an anthem writer absolutely nailing
the assignment. It was originally
composedfor a full military band, but as
the song has aged, you can find people
playing it on pretty much anything
thatthey can play lyrically and in its
original form. This is not a short
anthem. It is ten verses with a refrain
after each. In fact, it's so long
that since 1943, the official version
of the song is only verses one, five,
six, and ten with the refrain in
between each. There is probably no
way that somebody wrote this in 4
hours. But that's not the only urban
legend about the lyrics. Jamie's
familyis supposed to have sold off the
copyright, leading to the anthem
becoming copyrighted in the United
States when they were actually supposed
to gift it to the government in Mexico.
The origin of this legend is almost
certainly because Nuno and his american
publishers registered the song with
BMI, an american record company.
Regardless, at this point in history,
anything before 1923 is public domain
in the United States, and Article
155of mexican copyright law states that
the country holds moral, but not
property rights to the anthem. I'm
sure that is a meaningful thing for
a very specific kind of lawyer to
know the implications of. So not
me. Anyway, I'm just going to get
through this anthem, because it will
take a couple of minutes to read,
andthen I'm going to talk about it as
a whole. And in fact, I think that's
kind of where I'm landing going forward,
but we'll see. It just turns out
that that's what I keep doing. I
will read the chorus at the beginning
andat the end only, and additionally
I'll notethat this is a reading of an english
translation and that the anthem was
written in Spanish. The chorus sung
after each of the verses. Mexicans
atthe cry of war assemble the steel
andthe bridle and the earth trembles
to itscore, to the resounding roar of the
cannon. Now I will read on through
theverses. Encircle, O Fatherland, your
temples with olives, the divine archangel
of peace. For in heaven your eternal
destiny was written by the finger
ofgoddess. If, however, a foreign enemy
would dare to profane your ground
withtheir soul, think, o beloved fatherland,
that heaven has given a soldier in
every sun. In bloody battles you
saw them, their chests palpitating
for yourlove, face the shrapnel calmly and
seek death or glory. If the memory
ofancient deeds of your children inflames
the mind, the laurels of triumph,
yourforehead they will return immortally
toadorn like the holm oak struck by
lightning to the deep. Torrent collapses,
discord. Defeated, impotent, it fell
to the feet of the archangel. No
more. The blood of your children
spillin fights of brothers. Just find
thesteel in his hands. Whoever insulted
your sacred name of the immortal
warriorZempowallah, the terrible sword defends
you and its invincible arm upholds
yoursacred tricolor banner. He will be
of the happy Mexican, the Cardillo,
inpeace and war, because he knew how
his guns of brilliance to surround
thefields of honor. War. War. With no
mercy to any who shall try to tarnish
the coats of the fatherland. War.
War. The national banners shall be
drenched into waves of blood. War.
War. On the mountain in the valley,
thecannons thunder in horrid unison,
andthe sonorous echoes resound with
bellows of union liberty. O Fatherland.
If,however, your children, defenseless,
withtheir neck bent beneath the yoke,
mayyour fields be watered with blood,
maytheir footsteps be printed with blood,
and your temples, palaces and towers
shall collapse with horrid clamor,
andyour ruins continue on. Whispering
of 1000heroes the fatherland once was. If
to the fight against enemy hosts,
thewar horn summons us. The sacred flag
of Iturbide Mexicans. Brave. Keep
going. And to the fierce bradoons,
letthem serve the defeated ensigns as
a carpet. The laurels of triumph
willgive shade to the forehead of the
brave commander. To the patriotic
homesreturn, proud the warrior to sing
his victory, showing off the palms
ofglory that he knew how to conquer.
Inthe fight, their bloody laurels will
turn into garlands of myrtles and
roses, since the love of daughters
andwives also know how to reward the
brave, and he who to the blowing
ofburning shrapnel, succumbs to the
altar of the fatherland will obtain
inreward a tomb where the light of
glory shines, and of Igwala, the
dear ensign linked to his bloody
sword, crowned with an immortal laurel,
and will form the cross of his grave.
Fatherland, Fatherland. Your children
are sure to breathe until their last
for your sake. If the bugle with
itsbellicose accent calls them together
tobattle with courage, for you the
olive wreaths, for them a reminder
ofglory, for you, a laurel of victory,
forthem a tome of honor. And then again
we hear the chorus for a final time.
Mexicans at the cry of war assemble
thesteel and the bridle and the earth
trembles to its core, to the resounding
roar of the cannon. The mexican national
anthem is a well written piece of
patriotic poetry that deeply resonates
with the history, culture and identity
of Mexico. There is some very vivid
imagery and very emotional language.
Thesong powerfully conveys a sense of
national pride and praises the readiness
of the people to defend the homeland,
even if they have to die for their
country. The chorus repeated in between
each verse serves as a rallying cry
that unifies the people with a call
to arms, emphasizing the themes of
solidarity and resistance. I think
it's definitely the most explicitly
warlike anthem that we have encountered
sofar. Maybe, but I am pretty sure
that is not the most warlike one
that we will hear by a long shot.
Theopening verse sets a divine tone
invoking the blessings and protection
ofthe archangel of peace while asserting
the heavenly, preordained destiny
ofthe nation. Again, we are in a heavily
christian country, so that should
notbe a surprise that this is written
likethis. In fact, when the anthem was
published, the mexican government
wasstill three years away from removing
thecatholic church from running a significant
part of the government. One thing
youmight have noticed in this anthem
is awhiplash juxtaposition of peace and
readiness for war as it tries to
underscore the dual nature of patriotism.
So something like a desire for harmony
and the preparedness to defend it.
Ive noted at least a few times that
we are dealing with some explicitly
nationalist material when were dealing
with anthems. For many people, especially
possibly people that do things like
write national anthems, patriotism
is sodeeply rooted that it is basically
anemotion. What that also means is
that when stuff is being treated
likean emotion, it does not have to make
sense all the time. The subsequent
versesin the song build on these themes
byrecounting historical battles and
the sacrifices made by the nation's
heroes. The vivid descriptions of
bloody conflicts, people being calm
in the face of shrapnel, and the
pursuit of death or glory, seek to
immortalize the courage and valor
ofmexican citizen soldiers. The anthem
also delves into the internal struggles
with verse three addressing the tragic
bloodshed among brothers, a reference
tothe many civil conflicts that have
had and continue to have deleterious
effects on Mexico. This acknowledgment
of pastdiscord, coupled with the call to
unite against external threats, seeks
to convey the importance of national
unity as well as national strength.
Theanthem's rich use of metaphor and
symbolism, such as the comparison
ofdiscord to a defeated, falling army,
adds a layer of poetic depth that
elevates the text beyond mere patriotic
song to a profound narrative of struggle,
sacrifice, and resilience. The repeated
invocation of natural and martial
imagery, the oak tree struck by lightning
cannons, thundering fields watered
withblood, all this creates a visceral
connection to the land and the physical
realities of war. This not only grounds
the anthem in the mexican landscape,
butit also serves to remind the citizens
ofthe tangible and historical roots
oftheir national identity. Overall,
themexican national anthems blend of
poetic language, historical reflection,
andemotive call to unity and defense
makesit a powerful and effective anthem
that continues to inspire and unite
the mexican people. It checks off
pretty much every box that you would
think a national anthem ought to
check off, and we got an interesting
storyout of it that got me to learn a
bunch of cool stuff, and hopefully
youlearned a bit of it too. I'm going
toremind you again that I have joined
the Creator Accountability Network.
CANis a non profit dedicated to reducing
harassment and abuse through ethical
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andhelp build safer communities onto
the credits. The writing, recording
andproduction for the show are done
byme and I wrote and recorded the theme
music. I used that music with my
permission. Unless otherwise noted,
the anthems I play are public domain
or some other equivalently free to
play license, and this time I got
the okay from the singer before using
her version of the anthem. Vivian
Lunais a mexican singer and can be found
pretty much on all the social media
platforms. You should look them up
and listen to more of her music.
Mysources and the specific items I
mentioned in the show are contained
inthe show notes and the most direct
wayto get to those show notes is@anthemspodcast.com
youcan find me on Facebook and WhatsApp
asthe Anthems podcast and when I do
post on Facebook, it's about the
show and you've heard like a whole
episode of that at this point, so
you should follow me there and I'll
let you know when I have another
one.For now, I try to get the episode
shared on whatever platform I can
with the hashtag anthemspod. It would
be cool if you hashtag the post like
that and let people know about this
stuff, and it also might mean that
abutterfly flaps its wings where you
live and stops a tsunami somewhere
else.As always, you can email me corrections,
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because of that. Or maybe you're
askilled white hat hacker and somehow
get this episode playing on a random
bar's jukebox, but even if all you
do is stick around for another one,
which is honestly more than I expected,
and I'm actually quite grateful for
that. So thanks. I'll see you next
time.
Hello and welcome to theAnthems podcast. I'm Patrick, and
I'm here to tell you the story of
a song that helps to tell the story
of a nation. Today we are taking
an8900 1 mile leap, or 14,325 km, right
around the great circle that connects
the two episodes. And I do have a
spreadsheet for all of them. Maybe
you'll see it someday. That is just
a bit more than the equatorial diameter
of the earth, but what's less fun
about that distance is sound. Takes
about 11 hours to go that far, but
it can only be heard that far if
it is significantly louder than a
nuclear explosion. But I have not
done the math for that because it's
a sound so loud it sort of doesn't
makesense in a physics kind of way. Plus,
it's got me wandering right into
relevant history, because a very
loud thing happened there called
thechicxulub impact. The best estimates
Ican find for that put it at maybe
300decibels. So about twice as loud
asthe eruption of Krakatau, which is
the loudest thing that humans have
ever measured at about 180 decibels.
Andit was heard thousands of miles away.
And of course, the Chicxulub impact
crater is from the meteor that killed
the dinosaurs. And that means that
we're going to talk about Mexico.
Thereare two concurrent reasons that I
have selected Mexico for this episode.
One is that my daughter requested
itbecause she said she was curious
aboutthe country. Two is that very day
she mentioned the request, I learned
that Mexico was on track to elect
oneof two women as the president for
the first time ever. This is a country
I did go into the reading for knowing
alittle bit more about than usual,
atleast in a very specific period of
time, because I listened to Mike
Duncan's Revolution podcast, and
one of them was the mexican revolution.
Andthat kind of matters in the story
ofa national anthem, particularly this
one, although it doesn't always matter
in an anthem story. But I've learned
abunch getting ready to tell the story
of El Himno Nacional Mexicano, literally
the mexican national anthem. And
I'm looking forward to sharing it
with you. Despite it being one of
the two countries bordering the one
I live in. I have not been to Mexico,
but I have gotten pretty close to
it. Back in the nineties, I went
tovisit some family in Scottsdale,
Arizona,thereabouts, and we drove to San
Diego to go to the zoo. And if you
were to drive from the zoo south
toTijuana so you could visit the, I
don't know, the Agua Caliente tower.
You would drive nearly 20 miles and
it takes about 45 minutes nowadays,
soyou would need to loop the two minute
32nd version of the anthem that you're
about to hear and listen to it, I
don't know, like 20 times. Mexicanos
agri.com Mastano Enemy Bronzo Blanda
Swell Exalarin consolido para Mexicano
agri Doa Prista my initial reaction
isthat I'm not wildly enthusiastic
about thesong. As usual, I have listened to
dozens of versions of the anthem
before settling on this. I do appreciate
the performer and the delivery and
chose this because it is a well done
version of the song. As you will
learn, this is an anthem that is
very mexican and it still gets to
be a good song, even though this
oneisn't on my playlist. More alarmingly
though, while reading for this episode,
I have learned that Mexico City is
sinking. Some places sink as much
as40 year in the city, which seems
absolutely ridiculous to me because
that's 15 inches and it has everything
todo with how cities have chosen to
manage their water resources. I will
admit that earth's fresh water situation
is one of the things that has me
existentially worried. But enough
withthat, because the existential portion
of my show should be brief. Those
arereal problems, but I can do little
other than encourage awareness. The
more pertinent question for our purposes
is where in the world the people
ofMexico City are. I am thankful to
report that at least as of 2000,
788percent of my fellow Americans are
capable of finding Mexico on a map.
I was worried for a moment before
Ilooked that up. So if you know where
the US is, just go south. One country.
If you know where Canada is, go south
too. South America is probably easier
to find, though, because it's quite
large and it's its own continent.
There isa little bit of Central America that
connects South America, and we call
that Panama. If you head northeast
about130 miles, you'll be just into Mexico.
I have come to learn the Olmec empire
was the earliest civilization in
the Americas and that it developed
independently of any others. This
makes the Mexico Valley one of the
eight cradles of civilization. And
what makes all eight of these places
cradles of civilization is that they
are all independently developed agriculture,
except for probably one that was
maybe initially a marine based civilization.
But it gives me an excuse to talk
about the three sisters. This is
apretty brilliant method of cultivation
thatthe indigenous people of the Americas
use to feed their people you grow
acenter row of maize, which is corn.
If you didn't know, then you add
rows of climbing beans on either
side,and sometime later, rows of squash.
Outside of those. The maize acts
asa trellis for the beans. The beans
act as a stabilizer for the maize.
They also fix nitrogen in the soil,
and the broad leaves of the squash
orpumpkins help with weeds, and they
act as a natural compost when they
start to die off. It's pretty cool
stuff and something that I'm glad
Iknow, because when I finally get
around the gardening or when I have
to, that's what I'll do. I can't
start all the way back at the Olmec
people, though, because that happened
before the road to the anthem really
starts. 2500 bce. Mexico was absolutely
aninteresting place, but it would make
for too long of a show, and it already
takes me too long to write these
things. So we're gonna skip about
1100 years of Olmec history, breeze
past all of the mayan cultural history
with just this statement, and then
drop into the spanish conquest of
the aztec empire, which places us
right in the beginning of the 16th
century. The first two people from
Europe in modern Mexico were shipwreck
survivors named Geronimo de Aguilar
andGonzalo Guerrero. Geronimo was rescued
from his mayan captors and became
atranslator for the Spanish, and Gonzalo
went full native initially. I'm sure
he was not thrilled to be taken in
as a slave, but he earned his freedom,
and he became a respected warrior.
Hehad a family, and he was duty bound
enough to the people that he declined
tobe rescued by Cortes, one of the
interesting but not terrible people
that I will have a podcast about
if Iever get to have a second show. These
guys were stranded there in 1511
cedar, and consider that a mere ten
years later, the capital of the aztec
empire fell to the Spanish. It's
probably mostly because like, a third
of the people that lived there died
from smallpox, and the Spanish had
gunpowder and mildly industrialized
warfare. Idon't mean to imply that the conquest
ofmodern Mexico as New Spain happened
super quickly because it did nothing.
The mayan empire was not defeated
intotality for almost 180 years, which
is absolutely crazy. The time span
of colonialism blows my mind more
and more. New Spain became the largest
and most important of the spanish
colonies, and it was administered
in one ofthe more racist methodologies I've
read about, although I think the
french system is more outrightly
dehumanizing the descending order
ofrights Washington. Spanish descent
andborn in Spain, they were the only
people that could be in government.
Thecreole people were of spanish descent,
but born in Mexico, they were wealthy
landowners and merchants with no
government voice at all. The mestizos,
orso called mixed race people, were
barely third class. And then the
indigenous people. You can frame
ithowever you want to frame it, but
they were essentially an enslaved
population. Despite the best efforts
oftheir colonial masters. People did
what people always do. They ate meals
together, they lived together, and
after a while started to forget why
they thought they were so different.
Andthey formed a new common group, and
they started hating somebody else,
this time for good reasons, because
theSpanish were not being great. The
fancy academic word for this is called
syncretism, and it's this blending
ofculture and ideas in Mexico that
ledto things like tequila, mariachi
music,and basically all of the deliciousness
thatis mexican cuisine. Of course, the
cultural mix of spanish european
cultureand the many indigenous cultures
didn'tproduce a distinct mexican culture
overnight. It happened over the course
of about 300 years that new Spain
wasaround, which is plenty. Well, long
enough for a bunch of different people
to land solidly on. I'm not sure
what's next, but it doesn't include
Bane anymore. Then Miguel Hidalgo
camealong, and up front, you're gonna
want to read more about this guy
onyour own, because he has a great
story, and I'm barely touching it.
He was a catholic priest. He mostly
functioned as a secular businessman
for thechurch. He was a challenger of the
king's authority, publicly doubted
theveracity of immaculate Conception,
whichwas kind of a big deal for a priest.
Inthe 18th century, he fathered five
children out of wedlock. During his
vow of celibacy. He dodged conviction
fromthe actual inquisition and then got
sent to Mexico, taught the indigenous
people to grow forbidden crops, took
up all of the causes of the criollos
andmestizos and the indigenous people.
Then he gave an incredible speech
called the cry of Dolores after his
plot to rebel against the government
wasdiscovered, and he led an army of
90,000 fed up peasants to their defeat
against the very well armed Spanish.
Then he was betrayed and then was
executed in a culmination to a series
of events that inspired the mexican
revolution. Suffice to say, he is
another guy on my list of wildly
interesting historical figures to
podcast about. He was not the person
that really led to the collapse of
New Spain, though, because that was
our old pal Napoleon. We're gonna
keep running into this guy, you know,
historical wrecking ball and such.
After he subdued Spain in 1808 and
put his brother on the throne there,
it led to a situation on the mexican
peninsula that is complicated enough
to skip, apart from saying that the
competing coups both failed and a
viceroy arrived from Spain, which
prompted Hidalgos call to arms. After
the good Father Hidalgo was executed
in1811, Jose Morelos, coincidentally
also acatholic priest, took up the leadership
mantle in the independence movement.
Hewas militarily much more successful
thanHidalgo, until the crown returned
topost napoleonic Spain, leading to
his defeat and execution in 1815.
Theinsurgency lived on, though, and
eventually military men began to
defect from Spain, and a declaration
ofindependence was promulgated in 1820,
after more than a decade of battles
andhardships, the army of the three
guarantees was formed from insurgents
andmilitary defectors, and within six
months they had defeated the viceroy's
forces and secured a treaty ceding
totheir demands. Spain, of course,
wantednothing to do with any of that and
refused to recognize mexican independence.
But it still happened. In fact, I
think that revolutions are kinda
always gonna happen, unless maybe
someone manages to get fair government
right. So probably never based on
the current state of the world. Regardless,
the people of Mexico decided that
more of the same was actually kind
of what they wanted to do with self
governance. And they tried first
tohave a monarch. They went around
looking for a sovereign. Due to spanish
meddling, they were unable to find
any takers. And this led the creole
elite to accept the proclamation
of Augustinde Turbide as emperor of Mexico,
a manborn in Mexico. And empire is actually
the right word here. Mexico was huge.
It used to stretch from the top of
the american state of California
all theway down to modern Panama. So a pretty
large territory, but it turbide did
that thing that a lot of people do
when they get into a position of
inscrutable power. And he became
adespot. And it turned out that he
was actually not such a fan of the
constitution. As he became more dictatorial
and dissolved congress. I bet you
can guess what was happening in the
background. The emperor had a guess.
And in December of 1822, Colonel
SantaAnna was relieved of his command
toquash the rebellion in its cradle.
Instead of that, he declared a republic
and called for congress to reconvene,
eventually winning over the rest
ofthe army, which caused the emperor
tosurrender in March of 1823. It took
the mexican people less than two
years to go from tossing the empire
toestablishing the United mexican state.
On October 4 of 1824, the same year
that both our poet and composer were
born, Francisco Gonzalez Boca Negro
was born in San Luis Potosi to a
spanish father and a mexican mother,
and in 1827 the family moved to Spain.
His father was exempted from the
law that expelled spanish nationals
fromthe country because he married a
mexican woman. But he was making
apoint, and I respect that. The family
was able to move back to Mexico in
1836, after the band was removed.
He wasinitially dedicated to commerce as
a vocation, but he loved the literary
and intellectual circles in Mexico.
Over time, he was a poet, a theater
critic, a playwright, an orator,
and acolumnist for various publications.
Eventually he became the general
administrator of Rhodes and the editor
of the official gazette of the supreme
government. I have no idea how he
got there, but at some point he became
separated from his family and he
contracted tuberculosis, leading
to hisdeath in April of 1861. I'll talk
about the specifics of how the anthem
comes about in a few. Here we again
have another writer that has a fairly
light historical footprint, even
though he seems to have been a decent
and more interesting than the record
states person. He is considered an
important person in the history of
Mexico, though, and he is buried
inthe rotunda of illustrious men in
Mexico City. Jamie Nuno Rocca was
born on September 8 in 1824, and
Icouldn't find any information about
his parents other than that they
died when he was less than nine years
old, poor kid. He had an uncle Bernardo,
though, that became his guardian,
andthis guy was all right, and he financed
Jamie's musical studies in Barcelona
andin Italy. By the time he was 15,
Nuno was writing music, and the very
first complete piece he made was
for mixed choir and piano. He was
married twice, not when he was 15.
This happened later. He had a child
in the first marriage and two in
the second. He was a composer, a
concert pianist, conductor, and an
opera director. In 1851, he came
tobe appointed as the conductor of
the band of the queen's regiment,
andduring a trip to Cuba, he totally
hitit off with the former mexican president
Santa Ana, who was there in Cuba
onone of his political exiles. After
becoming president again in 1853,
Jamie's pal asked him to come and
lead Mexico's military bands. Santa
Ana is another guy you should read
about because he has a very complicated
story. Jamie arrived just in time
for the national anthem contest,
andobviously he won more on that in
afew. After Santa Ana was deposed,
Nunoemigrated to the United States and
toured as a concert pianist in 1864.
I'm not sure when he got divorced
orwhen he moved back to Spain, but
hegot married to his second wife there
in 1873 again, at some point in the
timeline, he came back to the United
States to retire in upstate New York,
and he was discovered anew by a mexican
journalist in 1901, and ended up
getting invited back to be honored
forthe 50th anniversary of the anthem
inMexico. He died in 1908 of unspecified
causes, and in 1942 he was exhumed
andreburied alongside the poet in the
rotunda of illustrious men. So we
have the poet and the composer, but
how did we get the anthem from them?
I will pick the timeline back up.
In 1846, on the first day of May.
This was one year after Texas ended
its nine year independence for Mexico
by becoming a state and just days
before the US Congress declared war
on Mexico, which happened on May
13and followed an attack in disputed
territory. The mexican american war
led to the occupation of Mexico City
itself by the us military and subsequently
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Withthis treaty, Mexico sold the northern
territories to the US. The people
living there were granted full citizenship,
plus voting and property rights,
andthe US assumed the debt that Mexico
had to private us citizens. It also
led to the president's exile to Cuba
and some pretty serious national
disheartenment with the progress
of thecountry. So when the guy that lost
the war came back into power again,
aspart of his effort to raise national
morale, he established concurrent
contestsfor the lyrics and the music of a
new national anthem. Like I said,
ourpoet is a typical anthem writer and
we sort of know just a bit about
theguy. But that is, however, an amazing
and probably apocryphal tale about
him writing the anthem. His future
wife at the time, who is also his
cousin, was pressuring him to make
an entry into the contest, despite
hisinsistence that he wrote love poems
and that they are different things
from national anthems. She proceeded
tolock him into a disused bedroom and
refused to let him out until he produced
an entry. It is supposed to have
taken him 4 hours to write the mammoth
poem you'll hear later. So that and
all the things I've read saying this
is just a story give me doubts, but
it is a fun scenario to imagine.
Regardless of how the poem was ultimately
written, he did win by unanimous
vote,and it was made official on February
3of 1854. The music took a slightly
lessdirect path at first. A piece by
an italian composer, Giovanni Battacini,
was chosen. And I will just say one
thing about Giovanni. He is said
tohave turned the double bass into
arespectable instrument because he
was just so good. Maybe look him
upif you're into the double bass. However,
he was not that good at writing music
for lyrics that he'd never seen,
because that's like really hard.
Andthat meant that despite winning,
becauseit was actually a nice piece of music,
it just didn't work with the lyrics,
and people making the decision wanted
those lyrics. So they ditched the
song and they held a new contest.
Bythen, President General Santa Ana
had invited Jamie to Mexico, and
hedecided to make an entry himself.
It wasobvious that they went with his choice
because I'm talking about it, but
mostly because it's actually an excellent
piece of music. And I will describe
thatpresently to you. So on August 12
of 1854, they had the music in addition
to the lyrics. With that information,
I havethe ability to tell you that Mexico
got its official national anthem
onSeptember 16 of 1854, which is not
coincidentally, independence day
inMexico. Now I can discuss the song
itself. We are not presented with
arefreshingly simple song as in the
case of Nepal, but we are given a
highly technical italian march. It's
mostly played in bb major, and as
my knowledge of keys has increased,
I'velearned that it's a key with a bright
and uplifting feeling. The singing
feels like it is in a range for an
average person, about an octave and
a half. I think I can handle that.
And I'm nothing like great writing.
Thishas got me thinking that maybe I
like an anthem to be something that
basically anybody can sing. It's
food for thought for me. I guess
I'velearned from much smarter people
thanme that there is a mix of stepwise
motion and some large leaps in this
song which make it a dynamic piece
ofmusic. The mexican national anthem
does a lot to reach the mostly not
musically trained public. It's in
four four. It's basically all very
common progressions like 1451. It
essentially has no key modulation
and isbuilt so that the lyrics are very
clearly heard. It's an extremely
wellmade piece of music and another example
of an anthem writer absolutely nailing
the assignment. It was originally
composedfor a full military band, but as
the song has aged, you can find people
playing it on pretty much anything
thatthey can play lyrically and in its
original form. This is not a short
anthem. It is ten verses with a refrain
after each. In fact, it's so long
that since 1943, the official version
of the song is only verses one, five,
six, and ten with the refrain in
between each. There is probably no
way that somebody wrote this in 4
hours. But that's not the only urban
legend about the lyrics. Jamie's
familyis supposed to have sold off the
copyright, leading to the anthem
becoming copyrighted in the United
States when they were actually supposed
to gift it to the government in Mexico.
The origin of this legend is almost
certainly because Nuno and his american
publishers registered the song with
BMI, an american record company.
Regardless, at this point in history,
anything before 1923 is public domain
in the United States, and Article
155of mexican copyright law states that
the country holds moral, but not
property rights to the anthem. I'm
sure that is a meaningful thing for
a very specific kind of lawyer to
know the implications of. So not
me. Anyway, I'm just going to get
through this anthem, because it will
take a couple of minutes to read,
andthen I'm going to talk about it as
a whole. And in fact, I think that's
kind of where I'm landing going forward,
but we'll see. It just turns out
that that's what I keep doing. I
will read the chorus at the beginning
andat the end only, and additionally
I'll notethat this is a reading of an english
translation and that the anthem was
written in Spanish. The chorus sung
after each of the verses. Mexicans
atthe cry of war assemble the steel
andthe bridle and the earth trembles
to itscore, to the resounding roar of the
cannon. Now I will read on through
theverses. Encircle, O Fatherland, your
temples with olives, the divine archangel
of peace. For in heaven your eternal
destiny was written by the finger
ofgoddess. If, however, a foreign enemy
would dare to profane your ground
withtheir soul, think, o beloved fatherland,
that heaven has given a soldier in
every sun. In bloody battles you
saw them, their chests palpitating
for yourlove, face the shrapnel calmly and
seek death or glory. If the memory
ofancient deeds of your children inflames
the mind, the laurels of triumph,
yourforehead they will return immortally
toadorn like the holm oak struck by
lightning to the deep. Torrent collapses,
discord. Defeated, impotent, it fell
to the feet of the archangel. No
more. The blood of your children
spillin fights of brothers. Just find
thesteel in his hands. Whoever insulted
your sacred name of the immortal
warriorZempowallah, the terrible sword defends
you and its invincible arm upholds
yoursacred tricolor banner. He will be
of the happy Mexican, the Cardillo,
inpeace and war, because he knew how
his guns of brilliance to surround
thefields of honor. War. War. With no
mercy to any who shall try to tarnish
the coats of the fatherland. War.
War. The national banners shall be
drenched into waves of blood. War.
War. On the mountain in the valley,
thecannons thunder in horrid unison,
andthe sonorous echoes resound with
bellows of union liberty. O Fatherland.
If,however, your children, defenseless,
withtheir neck bent beneath the yoke,
mayyour fields be watered with blood,
maytheir footsteps be printed with blood,
and your temples, palaces and towers
shall collapse with horrid clamor,
andyour ruins continue on. Whispering
of 1000heroes the fatherland once was. If
to the fight against enemy hosts,
thewar horn summons us. The sacred flag
of Iturbide Mexicans. Brave. Keep
going. And to the fierce bradoons,
letthem serve the defeated ensigns as
a carpet. The laurels of triumph
willgive shade to the forehead of the
brave commander. To the patriotic
homesreturn, proud the warrior to sing
his victory, showing off the palms
ofglory that he knew how to conquer.
Inthe fight, their bloody laurels will
turn into garlands of myrtles and
roses, since the love of daughters
andwives also know how to reward the
brave, and he who to the blowing
ofburning shrapnel, succumbs to the
altar of the fatherland will obtain
inreward a tomb where the light of
glory shines, and of Igwala, the
dear ensign linked to his bloody
sword, crowned with an immortal laurel,
and will form the cross of his grave.
Fatherland, Fatherland. Your children
are sure to breathe until their last
for your sake. If the bugle with
itsbellicose accent calls them together
tobattle with courage, for you the
olive wreaths, for them a reminder
ofglory, for you, a laurel of victory,
forthem a tome of honor. And then again
we hear the chorus for a final time.
Mexicans at the cry of war assemble
thesteel and the bridle and the earth
trembles to its core, to the resounding
roar of the cannon. The mexican national
anthem is a well written piece of
patriotic poetry that deeply resonates
with the history, culture and identity
of Mexico. There is some very vivid
imagery and very emotional language.
Thesong powerfully conveys a sense of
national pride and praises the readiness
of the people to defend the homeland,
even if they have to die for their
country. The chorus repeated in between
each verse serves as a rallying cry
that unifies the people with a call
to arms, emphasizing the themes of
solidarity and resistance. I think
it's definitely the most explicitly
warlike anthem that we have encountered
sofar. Maybe, but I am pretty sure
that is not the most warlike one
that we will hear by a long shot.
Theopening verse sets a divine tone
invoking the blessings and protection
ofthe archangel of peace while asserting
the heavenly, preordained destiny
ofthe nation. Again, we are in a heavily
christian country, so that should
notbe a surprise that this is written
likethis. In fact, when the anthem was
published, the mexican government
wasstill three years away from removing
thecatholic church from running a significant
part of the government. One thing
youmight have noticed in this anthem
is awhiplash juxtaposition of peace and
readiness for war as it tries to
underscore the dual nature of patriotism.
So something like a desire for harmony
and the preparedness to defend it.
Ive noted at least a few times that
we are dealing with some explicitly
nationalist material when were dealing
with anthems. For many people, especially
possibly people that do things like
write national anthems, patriotism
is sodeeply rooted that it is basically
anemotion. What that also means is
that when stuff is being treated
likean emotion, it does not have to make
sense all the time. The subsequent
versesin the song build on these themes
byrecounting historical battles and
the sacrifices made by the nation's
heroes. The vivid descriptions of
bloody conflicts, people being calm
in the face of shrapnel, and the
pursuit of death or glory, seek to
immortalize the courage and valor
ofmexican citizen soldiers. The anthem
also delves into the internal struggles
with verse three addressing the tragic
bloodshed among brothers, a reference
tothe many civil conflicts that have
had and continue to have deleterious
effects on Mexico. This acknowledgment
of pastdiscord, coupled with the call to
unite against external threats, seeks
to convey the importance of national
unity as well as national strength.
Theanthem's rich use of metaphor and
symbolism, such as the comparison
ofdiscord to a defeated, falling army,
adds a layer of poetic depth that
elevates the text beyond mere patriotic
song to a profound narrative of struggle,
sacrifice, and resilience. The repeated
invocation of natural and martial
imagery, the oak tree struck by lightning
cannons, thundering fields watered
withblood, all this creates a visceral
connection to the land and the physical
realities of war. This not only grounds
the anthem in the mexican landscape,
butit also serves to remind the citizens
ofthe tangible and historical roots
oftheir national identity. Overall,
themexican national anthems blend of
poetic language, historical reflection,
andemotive call to unity and defense
makesit a powerful and effective anthem
that continues to inspire and unite
the mexican people. It checks off
pretty much every box that you would
think a national anthem ought to
check off, and we got an interesting
storyout of it that got me to learn a
bunch of cool stuff, and hopefully
youlearned a bit of it too. I'm going
toremind you again that I have joined
the Creator Accountability Network.
CANis a non profit dedicated to reducing
harassment and abuse through ethical
education and a system of restorative
accountability. I joined because
I careabout the safety and well being of
community members and I believe people
should hold themselves accountable
for whatthey do. If you feel my behavior
orcontent has harmed somebody, please
report it to Ken either via the reporting
form on their website, which is creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org,
or via their hotline at 617-249-4255
they'llhelp make it right and help me avoid
repeating that mistake again. Can
also needs volunteers to help them
with their process. So if you have
skills that you think would be helpful
or even just time and desire to help,
please visit the website and find
out how you can do that. Even more
importantly, please get the word
outto other creators who you think would
be interested in getting credentialed
andhelp build safer communities onto
the credits. The writing, recording
andproduction for the show are done
byme and I wrote and recorded the theme
music. I used that music with my
permission. Unless otherwise noted,
the anthems I play are public domain
or some other equivalently free to
play license, and this time I got
the okay from the singer before using
her version of the anthem. Vivian
Lunais a mexican singer and can be found
pretty much on all the social media
platforms. You should look them up
and listen to more of her music.
Mysources and the specific items I
mentioned in the show are contained
inthe show notes and the most direct
wayto get to those show notes is@anthemspodcast.com
youcan find me on Facebook and WhatsApp
asthe Anthems podcast and when I do
post on Facebook, it's about the
show and you've heard like a whole
episode of that at this point, so
you should follow me there and I'll
let you know when I have another
one.For now, I try to get the episode
shared on whatever platform I can
with the hashtag anthemspod. It would
be cool if you hashtag the post like
that and let people know about this
stuff, and it also might mean that
abutterfly flaps its wings where you
live and stops a tsunami somewhere
else.As always, you can email me corrections,
comments, concerns, suggestions,
ideas,instructions on how to do awesome
things and even ask me questions@anthemspodmail.com.
i havemade it possible to be old fashioned
andleave me a voicemail or send a text
at 120-3759 or better still, leave
mea review wherever you can so that
Ican find out what you think. Or give
me a rating on your podcast app,
because ratings and reviews matters
tothe algorithm, and they matter to
all of the people on the Internet
because of that. Or maybe you're
askilled white hat hacker and somehow
get this episode playing on a random
bar's jukebox, but even if all you
do is stick around for another one,
which is honestly more than I expected,
and I'm actually quite grateful for
that. So thanks. I'll see you next
time.
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