Cinco de Mayo!

On May 5, 1862, a Mexican army under the command of Texas-born General Ygnacio Zaragosa defeated a larger French army force in the battle of Puebla. The French assaulted Fort Guadalupe but were repelled with major loss of life. (I'll bet they didn't call him 'Nacho.')

France was anxious to collect on debts owed by Mexico, and invaded under that pretext, landing at Veracruz. (Abraham Lincoln was sympathetic to the Mexican cause, but had his hands full at the time.) The French Emperor, Napoleon III, was determined to conquer. He decided to put a Hapsburg Prince, Maximilian, on a Mexican throne. Ultimately he failed and Maximilian was defeated and executed.

The entire story is well told by Jasper Ridley in “Maximilian and Juarez” (see my Shelfari bookshelf).

The battle of Puebla was but a temporary setback for the French, who went ahead to take Mexico City. The victory was heartening for the Mexicans who were fighting against a superior army. President Porfirio Diaz decreed that May 5, Cinco de Mayo, should rank as a holiday along with Mexican Independence Day, September 15th.

The thing is – I don’t remember a Cinco de Mayo celebration when I was growing up in Texas. Does anybody remember one? The first I remember was here in Athens, about 30 years ago, a lawn party. We had Armadillidium races (pill bugs), a wetback T-shirt contest, and cow chip tossing. And shots of Tequila and jalapeno peppers.

And I ask – is the modern celebration of Cinco de Mayo here, in the U.S., merely a creation of the vendors of Joe Quervo tequila?

Comments

[Sharon]

Thanks Dac!

Several years back I went searching for info on Cinco de Mayo to support having a lunch party here at work. I felt much more justified being an American and celebrating a Mexican holiday after viewing this website:
http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

This year a friend and I got together to make tamales, real honest to goodness tamales. If you can believe it little back-prairie Morris has a mercato. Everything we read said how laborious it is to make tamales and as such they are usually only made for important celebrations. Well maybe we cheated by having 'instant' masa, but it wasn't as labor intensive as I expected. I do think that sharing the preparation with a good friend, while devouring tapas and ibibing on traditional margaritas makes for quite the perfect celebration.

Viva!

[Mike Draney]

Dac,

Thanks for the Cinco de Mayo history...I always forget the details of what's being celebrated.

Growing up in southern New Mexico in the 70's, I never noticed anything about Cinco de Mayo (but then I wasn't exactly plugged into the heart of hispanic culture, either). It seemed to be a minor but real event in Las Cruces by the mid-80's when I was a college student, though.

Interestingly, Cinco de Mayo is a major and prominent event here in GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN. Thanks to dairy, meat-packing, and sauerkraut factories, the Mexican population in Green Bay now exceeds 15% of the population, last I heard. Not really much different from the New Mexico cities of my youth, now. Lots of Mexican groceries, butcher shops, taco/burrito places. My favorite restaurant, El Serape, is as good as you'll find in many a southwestern town. They have a parade on the street my house is on, complete with lots of Lady of Guadalupe's on car and truck windows. Just like home.