Cinco de Mayo History: An American Celebration of the Battle of Puebla

Cinco de Mayo History: An American Celebration of the Battle of Puebla
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What is Cinco de Mayo anyway? Contrary to popular belief, it's not Mexican Independence Day, which is commemorated Sept. 16.


It actually celebrates the 1862 Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla and, according to many people, is more of a U.S. holiday than a Mexican one.

For the average Mexican, today is just another Wednesday, wrote Oscar Casares, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin.

"The holiday, which has never really been much of one in Mexico, crossed over to this side of the border in the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activists were attempting to build harmony between the two countries and cultures," Casares wrote.


"The date gained more attention in the 1980s when marketers, particularly beer companies, saw this as a perfect opportunity to capitalize on the celebratory nature of the holiday."

Eric Lurio wrote in the Huffington Post, "It's actually a Mexican-American holiday, which was for some reason very popular in California, and over the years has become the official Mexican ethnic day, as Columbus Day is for the Italians and Polanski Day is for the Poles. In other words, it's a harmless, if totally fake holiday."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cinco-de-mayo-history-american-celebration-battle-puebla/story?id=10561976

...when someone asked him about his Mexican flag lapel pin: "Hey man, it's like Oktoberfest, but with burritos and better beer!"

There's nothing wrong with ethnic holidays. Cinco de Mayo is just as "real" a holiday as St. Patricks Day is in the U.S.

The neighborhood where I lived - it was like a week long celebration :)

Cinco de Mayo celebrations around here tend to run from the beginning of the weekend closest to the holiday, until the 5th itself.

On a less enthusiastic note, I saw a nut this morning with a huge American flag in the back of his truck. I didn't have a big problem with that (though I do consider it a disrespectful way of displaying it), but I DID have a problem with the paper sign he had taped to the sides of his truck bed: "This is AMERICA. Fly OUR flag, not MEXICOS!" Apparently the nitwit was annoyed with all of the hispanics who put the little Mexican flags on their cars on Cinco de Mayo.

Is that when Mexicans get drunk and eat hamburguesas?

But, yes, many Mexican Americans get drunk and eat hamburguesas on that holiday too :)

I very much contest that.

No one celebrates Cinco de Mayo in Mexico.

But I have nothing against it's celebration here. I actually like that there's a day of celebration for Mexicans in the US.

a "Cielito Lindo" earworm this morning with his sig line. lol

I don't think Roman is much cause for celebration these days. But you have to give ABC news credit for remembering that Poles celebrate some sort of P******ski day somewhere.....someplace.....I think maybe in Chicago.

That's news to me. (life-long resident of the border) If they don't celebrate it, why do the kids have the day off from school? :shrug:

And it is *an* Independence Day---independence from France. Diez y Seis is the more important holiday, but to dismiss Cinco de Mayo as a "fake" Mexican holiday is disrespectful.

dg

It wasn't a huge deal there, but it certainly wasn't ignored or considered "fake".

The activities committee (of which I am on) sold tacos at lunch time. The best part is our German ex-pat is the one that send out the announcement email the other day. :)

How do you celebrate it, commit a crime then flee the country?

Someone send Eric Lurio this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_Days