When the music's loud, everyone's smiling, and you're stuffed with delicious home-cooked food, you might not really care why you're celebrating. Whether it's St. Patrick's Day, Chinese New Year, or your cat's birthday, sometimes the reason behind the festivities can get lost in all the fun.
The Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo is widely observed in America, but few people know its real origins. Most Cinco de Mayo parties are all about the chilaquiles and horchata or dancing to banda music. As with other holidays, historical facts rarely show up in television ads or party invitations related to Cinco de Mayo. Watch this brief introduction to the events that occurred one May 5th long, long ago, to see what's missing from your understanding of the festivity.
Cinco de Mayo, which means May 5th in Spanish, is a holiday observed by millions of people throughout
the United States and Mexico. Cinco de Mayo parties are famous for their mariachi music, authentic
Mexican cuisine, and plenty of alcohol for the adults. However, very few celebrants in the United States
and Mexico know what Cinco de Mayo is really all about.
Most people just assume that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, like the 4th of July in the
United States. In reality, Mexico became independent from Spain forty years before the first Cinco de
Mayo. Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates an incredible battle between Napoleon III’s French army
and Mexico that took place in 1862, in the small town of Puebla, just outside of Mexico City.
Using Mexico’s unpaid debts as an excuse to attack, a French army of over 8,000 soldiers marched on
Mexico’s capital, hoping to overthrow the government and take over. The French hadn’t lost a battle in
50 years, and their weapons and tactics were much more advanced than those of the Mexicans. The
French outnumbered the Mexicans two to one, and expected an easy victory.
To the amazement of just about everybody, the defenders at Puebla handed the French a humiliating
defeat, forcing them to retreat. From Puebla to California, Mexicans felt a renewed sense of national
pride and hope for the future.
Surprisingly, 150 years later, most Mexicans outside of Puebla don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and it’s
not even an official national holiday in Mexico. Today, this holiday is mostly observed in the United
States, as a chance to share and celebrate Mexican heritage and pride. But American businesses
(especially beer companies) have jumped on the opportunity to cash in on Cinco de Mayo, leading many
people to worry that the true meaning of the holiday is getting lost to commercialism.
Question
What fact about Cinco de Mayo do most Americans get wrong?
