Just over 2,000 people, including musicians, dancers, creators of offerings from various Mexican traditions and participants gathered on Monday, July 26 to commemorate the 696th anniversary of the founding of Tenochtitlán, today known as Mexico City.

Many people from the city, the State of Mexico and other parts of the country came to the capital's Zócalo, next to the Templo Mayor, to share their knowledge and honor their ancestors in the same year that marks the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and the 500th anniversary of the conquest.

"We are celebrating this great celebration. It is the time of unification, the time to come together again as one great tribe. We are one tribe, the human tribe."

"We stopped the dance so that they could explain the astronomical movement that is observed when the shadow disappears, metaphorically, from the vertical bodies. At 13.43 the shadow of the flag located in the center of the Zócalo plaza disappears," David Trejo, coordinator of a tlalmanalli, an altar that refers to the four elements and the deities, told EFE in an interview.

The celebration is held every year to remind Mexicans, especially children, where they come from and what their roots are.

"All Mexicans should know their roots, their culture, and that they should feel proud to be Mexican. They always talk to us about Sept. 16 — Independence Day — but there are other dates, phenomena and circumstances that we continue to talk about 500 years after the arrival of the Spaniards. Mexico is a multicultural world," said Trejo.

The ceremony also works so that people from other countries and traditions learn about Mexico's ancestral history and recognize their own cultures. In a globalized world it is important to unite and enhance the particularities of each territory.

In Mexico, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the administration has shown interest in revaluing Mexico's pre-Hispanic history.

"We have had a lot of openness with the local government and other states. They are supporting us and are disseminating cultural rescue as part of this multicultural form," said Trejo.