Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Cinco de Mayo---An American Celebration

Cinco de Mayo! Americans celebrate with gusto! A time to enjoy a Mexican beer and Mexican food: nachos! A time to celebrate the Mexican Independence---right? WRONG!


The holiday, Cinco de Mayo, is NOT the Mexican Independence Day. That is September 16th and is celebrated enthusiastically by Mexicans all over Mexico.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Battle of Puebla. In 1862, some years after Mexico declared its independence from Spain, President Benito Juarez announced that Mexico could not repay its debts to England, Spain and France for 3 years. The French didn't like that and came to Mexico to collect their money!


The French sent an army of 6,000 men to the city of Puebla, with the intention of marching on to Mexico City. They were met by a ragtag army of 5,000 Mestizos and Indians who fought and won the battle in Puebla. Although the victory was short-lived, (the French invaded Puebla again 3 days later, and sent Maximilian to be the emperor of Mexico*) the Mexicans remember the men who fought so hard and lost their lives for their country.


*Maximilian was in power for about 5 years when he lost his backing from the Catholic church and Benito Juarez regained his presidency and Mexico was finally a free country.


So---that is much more than you ever wanted to know about Cinco de Mayo, right?


Regarding the celebrations in Mexico, the people have a day off work, the school children talk about the holiday in school, but as far as big observances go, it is more of a regional holiday, commemorated in Puebla, than nationally. Puebla celebrates with gusto and in Mexico City, President Calderon probably made a speech and there may have been military parades. In Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, there were no festivities.

The holiday has been embraced by many Mexicans living in the USA, and in areas around the US/Mexican border.

So go ahead and enjoy those nachos! Have a Corona beer! Play some Mexican music! You will have a great party, and why not? Just don't think that you are celebrating the Mexican Independence Day!

Hasta luego.



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