At the time the Mexican national anthem was written, Mexico was still facing the effects of a bitter defeat in the
Mexican–American War at the hands of the
United States. The country felt demoralized and also divided, due to the
cession of more than half of its territory due to its defeat to the United States. According to historian Javier Garciadiego, who spoke at a 2004 ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the national anthem's adoption, the song disregards divisions and strife and encourages national unity. On that same date,
Mexico City and other parts of the country stopped what they were doing and performed a nationwide singing of the national anthem. Individuals from other countries also participated, mostly at diplomatic offices or at locations where a high concentration of Mexican
expatriates are found. The national anthem has also been described as one of the symbols of the "Mexican identity". Another infamous case is that of
banda musician
Julio Preciado, who performed the national anthem at the inauguration of the
Caribbean Baseball Series in 2009;
El Universal reported that "in a slow tone that has nothing to do with the rhythm of the National Anthem, the singer literally forgot the lyrics of the second stanza and mixed it with others", this earned the fanfare of those who were present at the stadium (and those watching it live on TV), some of the people attending the inauguration started shouting the phrases "
¡sáquenlo!, ¡no se lo sabe! ¡fuera, fuera!" (Get him out! He doesn't know it! Out, out!). In addition, the national anthem is sometimes used as a kind of
shibboleth: a tool against people who might not be "true Mexicans" (as opposed to migrants from another
Latin American country who pretend that they are from Mexico). The suspected are asked to sing Mexico's national anthem and it is widely expected that only "true Mexicans" will know the lyrics and tune and thus will be able to sing it. In one case, a young man of
Afro-Mexican descent was stopped by police and forced to sing the national anthem to prove his nationality. In a separate incident in Japan, police officers asked four people to sing the Mexican national anthem after they were arrested in
Tokyo on charges of breaking and entering. However, when they could not sing the song, it was discovered that they were
Colombians holding forged Mexican passports. They were later charged with more counts on theft of merchandise and money. The verse ('If, however, a foreign enemy would dare') uses and , which are archaic poetic forms. Modern prose speakers would use . Thus, the verse has sometimes been
misunderstood as ('Masiosare, a strange enemy') with , an otherwise unused word, as the name of the enemy. "Masiosare" has been used in Mexico as a first name for real and fictional people and as a common name ( or the homophone ) for the anthem itself or for a threat against the country. == In other languages ==