Great Military Parade of Chile

For more than a century the Great Military Parade of Chile has been an enduring legacy of the Independence Day holidays in Chile, held in Santiago, Chile's O'Higgins Park on September 19 yearly in honor of the Glories of the Chilean Army with a military parade involving not just the ground forces but by the rest of the Chilean Armed Forces: the Chilean Navy, the Chilean Air Force, and the Carabineros de Chile, also in of the anniversary of the formal inauguration on that day in 1810 of the First Government Junta, which witnessed the first military parade of the independent nation at the Plaza de Armas, Santiago. It is the final act of the national independence celebrations, seen by more people through TV and the Internet, and heard on radio.

Per Law 2977 of 1915, Army Day is celebrated on the 19th of September in honor of the Army's role in the defense of the Chilean nation, thus the date is dedicated to the Chilean Army and is a national holiday. The parade, however, dates back to 1896.

During the long Spanish era in Chile, whenever a new governor-general takes his office in Santiago, a military parade is called by the troops of the city garrison under the Spanish Army.

On Sept. 19, 1810, the formal inauguration of the First Government Junta took place in Santiago which saw the first ever military parade of the new nation.

Another military parade was held on September 28, 1819, in honor of the formal victory in the Chilean War of Independence with units of the Army of the Andes taking part. The parade would move to its present home in 1830 under President Tomas Ovalle, albelt in the then fields of La Pampilla in the Santiago area, where the parade was held with the ceremonies ending in the Plaza de Armas with a Feu de joie. The parades, nicknamed "despejes" by the people, would take a new form in the years ahead.

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