Cinco de Mayo is probably the most misunderstood holiday celebrated in the United States. The defeat of a French army is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is observed on Sept. 16.
Cinco de Mayo, translated Fifth of May, has gained popularity in the U.S. where many people are unaware of the historic battle that inspired the celebration.
It started in 1861, when Benito Juarez became president of a country in financial ruin. The fleeing conservatives had emptied the national treasury, forcing President Juarez to suspend all payments on foreign debts until he could make new arrangements with the European governments.
In response, France, Britain and Spain sent their troops to Veracruz to demand repayment. The British and the Spaniards negotiated their own settlements with Mexican authorities and headed back to Europe. However, France was ruled by Napoleon III, who saw an opportunity to conquer and establish an empire in Mexico that would favor French interests.
The French army was confident of victory. On May 5, 1862, over 6,000 well-armed French soldiers, led by Gen. Charles Latrille de Lorencez, attacked a poorly equipped Mexican army of less than 2,000, led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. The battled lasted from daybreak to early evening.
Surprisingly and against all odds, the Mexicans defeated the French army, considered “the premier army of the world,” which had not been defeated for almost 50 years, wrote Ignacio Gonzalez, author of The Significance of Cinco de Mayo.
The victorious Battle of Puebla represented a great moral victory for the Mexican government, for it symbolized the country’s ability to protect its sovereignty against other nations.
As Time magazine noted, “The Puebla victory came to symbolize unity and pride for what seemed like a Mexican David defeating a French Goliath.”
In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has attained greater significance than in Mexico. By the 1960s, “Chicano activists embrace the holiday as a way to build pride among Mexican-Americans,” José Alamillo said. He is a professor of ethnic studies at Washington State University in Pullman.
By the 1980s, this holiday began to be advertised on a wider scale, “changing the meaning of the celebration from community self-determination to a drinking holiday for many people,” Alamillo declared.
Now Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate Mexican food, traditions, culture — and booze. Beer corporations like Dos Equis, Tecate, Corona and Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) have taken advantage of the ever-growing Hispanic community to commercialize this holiday.
Today, the commemoration of the battle is not observed as a national holiday in Mexico; however, in Puebla, Mexico, where the battle took place, it is an official holiday. The community of Poblanos stages a military parade and mock battle to commemorate the Cinco de Mayo victory.
In the United States, community members display Cinco de Mayo banners and in some places the streets are closed for neighborhood gatherings.
Students decorate their classrooms and try their hand at cooking some basic Mexican food. Some restaurants spice up their menu with Mexican dishes (mole poblano, barbacoa, tamales, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas con guacamole, salsa picante) and enjoy their drinks (margaritas, beer and shots of tequila) to the rhythm of the mariachi bands.
–Tare Beltranchuc
and Marco Villa
