Ask a Mexican living in Mexico what they are doing for Cinco De Mayo and you'll get a strange look like they have no idea what you're talking about. I remember the first time I asked a Mexican what they were doing for Cinco De Mayo. The look of confusion on their face I assumed was my bad Spanish, which at the time was not so good having first moved to the country. Repeating myself made it clear that they understood me but had no special plans.
I asked a few more people before realizing that May 5th held no great significance to the average Mexican living in Mexico and they couldn't understand why I thought that day was going to be so fun. My memories of celebrating Cinco De Mayo living in California were blurry for sure but I seem to recall some fun was involved.
Cinco De Que?
Everyone I partied with on Cinco De Mayo (which would often start the day before so we could get a good start) believed we were celebrating the day Mexico gained its independence from Spain. Turns out we were wrong.
Cinco De Mayo, Spanish for Fifth of May, is a not the day that Mexico gained its independence from Spain. That day was September 16th, 1810. Well, that's when the Mexican War Of Independence started anyways.
People from the United States mistakenly think that Cinco De Mayo is Mexican Independence Day but in reality, it is an American holiday that celebrates Mexican-American culture, although there was a battle that took place in Puebla, Mexico on May 5, 1862, between the Mexican Army over French forces at the Battle of Puebla.
Cinco de Mayo has its roots in the French occupation of Mexico, which took place in the aftermath of the Mexican–American War of 1846–48 and the 1858–61 Reform War. The Reform War was a civil war which pitted Liberals (who believed in separation of church and state and freedom of religion) against the Conservatives (who favored a tight bond between the Roman Catholic Church and the Mexican State).
These wars left the Mexican Treasury nearly bankrupt. On July 17, 1861, Mexican President Benito Juárez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be suspended for two years.
In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, at the time ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to establish a Latin empire in Mexico that would favor French interests, the Second Mexican Empire. Wikipedia
Mexico had gained its independence decades before this battle during the Mexican War Of Independence which began on September 16, 1810, and ended on September 27, 1821.
Mexican Independence Day is the most important holiday celebrated in Mexico on September 10th, not may 5th.
Political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, who left the crown of Spain to his brother Joseph Bonaparte. The same year, the ayuntamiento (city council) of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy; when it was suppressed, the leaders of the movement were jailed.
Despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule. In 1810, after being discovered, Querétaro conspirators chose to take up arms on September 16 in the company of peasants and indigenous inhabitants of Dolores (Guanajuato), who were called to action by the secular Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo, former rector of the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo. Wikipedia
The night before the celebration, the President of Mexico rings a bell at the national palace in Mexico City and calls out the namesof the heroes who fought in the Mexican War Of Independence. Tey light fireworks all across the country just like in the United States.
I'll Have One Of Those
In the United States Of America Cinco De Mayo has taken on a completely different meaning and usually involves getting drunk on Margaritas, but that has nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day. The Margarita was not invented until 1937.
The story of how the Margarita was invented is as varied as the stories one hears after drinking them.
One story is that bartender Don Carlos Orozco at Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada, Mexico made one for the daughter of the German ambassador named Margarita Henkel and named it after her.
Some say it was first invented in 1942 at Tommy's Place Bar in Juarez, Mexico by Francisco "Pancho" Morales who later immigrated to the United States and popularized the drink.
Others say the inventor was Dallas socialite Margarita Sames, when she concocted the drink for her guests at her Acapulco vacation home in 1948.
Tommy Hilton reportedly attended, bringing the drink back to the Hilton chain of hotels.
However, Jose Cuervo was already running ad campaigns for the margarita three years earlier, in 1945, with the slogan, "Margarita: It's more than a girl's name." According to Jose Cuervo, the cocktail was invented in 1938 by a bartender in honor of Mexican showgirl Rita de la Rosa.
Another common origin tale begins the cocktail's history at the legendary Balinese Room in Galveston, Texas where, in 1948, head bartender Santos Cruz created the margarita for singer Peggy (Margaret) Lee. He supposedly named it after the Spanish version of her name, Margarita, and it has been a hit ever since. (Margarita is a German form of the name and was introduced to Mexico with no Hispanic origin. Wikipedia
Whoever invented the Margarita it sure is a popular drink all over the world now and is easy to make. Just mix equal parts of tequila, Mexican orange liqueur called Controy, and lime, shake it up and serve it over ice in a salt-rimmed glass.
After drinking a few you can make up your own stories and I believe that is how the myth of Cinco De Mayo being Mexican Independence Day probably got started. Once thing I do know about my extensive research into drinking Margaritas is that your Spanish gets better the more you drink them. I call it speaking Tequilish, the easiest language to learn. In fact, I can teach you to speak it fluently in about two hours no matter what your native language is.
Important Information About Consumption Of Tequila!
My friends and I in the U.S. would begin drinking the day before Cinco De Mayo when I lived in the States. We would start on May 4th and drink Obi One Kenobi's named after the legendary Jedi Master from Star Wars. It consists of 2 ounces Blue Curacao, 1 ounce of gin, and 3 ounces of blue Kool-Aid. Mix it up and serve it in a test tube and it looks like a Star Wars Light Saber.
Each May 4th we would begin our drinking ritual, raise our test tube glasses and say. "May The Fourth Be With You."
Cinco De Mayo is celebrated in Puebla where the battle against the French took place but it is not a National Mexican holiday.
The United States first began celebrating it in Columbia, California in the 1860's and Time magazine reported that it began to cross over into other States in the 1940's and 1950's but it was not until the 1980's that it really took off nationally mostly due to beer companies promoting it to increase sales.
As it grew in popularity in areas with a large Hispanic population in the United States, drawing a crowd of 500,000 people or more and spreading to over 150 cities by 1998.
On June 7, 2005, the United States Congress issued a concurrent resolution calling on the President of the United States to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe Cinco de Mayo with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
To celebrate, many display Cinco de Mayo banners while school districts hold special events to educate students about its historical significance. Special events and celebrations highlight Mexican culture, especially in its music and regional dancing.
Examples include baile folklórico and mariachi demonstrations held annually at the Plaza del Pueblo de Los Ángeles, near Olvera Street. Commercial interests in the United States have capitalized on the celebration, advertising Mexican products, and services, with an emphasis on alcoholic beverages, foods, and music. Wikipedia
The popularity of Cinco De Mayo didn't stop there and has crossed over into some of the most unlikely countries such as Windsor, Ontario, Canada's, Cinco de Mayo Street Festival, Vancouver's Cinco De Mayo Skydiving Event, and the Cinco De Mayo air guitar event in the Cayman Islands.
Other cities and countries to host a Cinco De Mayo celebration include Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, (of course Australians will use any excuse to drink), London, New Zealand, Paris, Cape Town, South Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, Osaka and Tokyo, Japan.
