Children dressed up as Emiliano Zapata and his Adelita followersOn November 20 all of Mexico celebrates the Day of the Revolution. This day marks the beginning of a war that lasted from 1910 - 1920. There are parades and civic ceremonies in every city. Children dressed as soldiers and their followers are part of these parades.
The Mexican Revolution began on November 20, 1910 so this year is the Centennial celebration. It was beginning of the attempt to oust the Mexican president Porfirio Diaz who had become a dictator. While heroes in the north of the country included Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula--better known as Pancho Villa, heroes in the southern part of the country included Emiliana Zapata.
Today people still admire Zapata, whose battle cry "Tierra y Libertad" (Land and Liberty) is still heard. The women who followed Zapata were called Adelitas and they are immortalized in a famous photograph of an Adelita hanging off of the platform of a steam engine in the city of Cuautla where I used to live. The steam engine, the last in Mexico, occasionally still runs. It is not uncommon in the state of Morelos to hear stories of people whose mothers or grandmothers were Adelitas
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