{"id":196,"date":"2010-05-13T14:57:27","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T18:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/?p=196"},"modified":"2010-05-13T14:57:27","modified_gmt":"2010-05-13T18:57:27","slug":"just-what-is-cinco-de-mayo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/13\/just-what-is-cinco-de-mayo\/","title":{"rendered":"Just What Is Cinco de Mayo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe following was originally posted about 4 years ago. I thought it worth a fresh read.
\n<\/em><\/span>Originally Posted on\u00a0Larry Eppley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Much is being made of the celebration of Cinco de Mayo –\u00a0 The Fifth of May.\u00a0 The online discussion boards are heating up with strong opinions about a holiday that most people, including those with the strongest opinions, know nothing about.<\/p>\n

Marcus SantaMaria and his wife Elena produce the online Courses with which I have learned Spanish as a second language.\u00a0 Marcus, an Australian spent quite some time in Mexico, Elena’s country, and offers his “Anglo\/Australian” take on this holiday<\/a>. After you read this, I’ll add a few additional thoughts of my own.<\/p>\n

A popular myth is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Wrong!<\/p>\n

Mexican Independence Day is actually September 16. In fact, it\u2019s the 200 year anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

So, what is Cinco de Mayo?<\/p>\n

What really happened on the 5th of May was the Mexican army won a battle against the invading French army in the Battle of Puebla.<\/p>\n

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the interior of Mexico in and around Puebla, but in other parts of the country it\u2019s a yawn.<\/p>\n

My wife, Elena, and I once went out in Rosarito, Mexico on Cinco de Mayo. We were expecting a party but the town was as dead as a dodo. We ended up crossing the border into the USA, headed for Old Town, San Diego and had a blast north of the border.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the funny thing about Cinco de Mayo; it\u2019s probably a bigger celebration in the USA than in Mexico.<\/p>\n

In the USA, Cinco de Mayo has taken a life all of its own and is now a huge celebration of all things Latino. It\u2019s enjoyed by Latinos and Non- Latinos and especially people who like to eat, drink and be very merry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few additional notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most USAmericans do not know that Cinco de Mayo and Saint Patrick’s Day, are celebrations of Mexican-Americans and Irish-Americans, respectively. Neither of these celebrates the independence of the nations of origin.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately as were the Irish before them, the Mexicans are currently being degraded, rather than celebrated.<\/p>\n

There is one additional fact that needs expressing.\u00a0 Had the French gained their foothold rather than being defeated by the smaller Mexican forces, the French could have become a supplier to the Confederate states, using this as an opportunity to permanently divide the United States and to legitimize their own presence in this hemisphere.<\/p>\n

It is true that the French returned a few years later and imposed their rule on Mexico, at which time the United States were still united\u00a0 and in a position to assist Mexico against the French.<\/p>\n

Perhaps if we knew as much about the historical significance of Cinco de Mayo as we do the Alamo, we could regard our neighbors to the south with a little more respect.<\/p>\n

Of course, if you are still holding your Confederate currency and think the South should have won the war, and feel compelled to wave the stars-and-bars at every opportunity, the value of the preceding will be lost to you.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following was originally posted about 4 years ago. I thought it worth a fresh read. Originally Posted on\u00a0May 13, 2010\u00a0by\u00a0Larry Eppley Much is being made of the celebration of Cinco de Mayo –\u00a0 The Fifth of May.\u00a0 The online …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}