Thread: Happy Cinco De Mayo

yay.

i went to a dance club by that name when i was in puerto rico.

Cinco History

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!

Cinco de Mayo

Why do Americans celebrate and Mexicans barely notice?

by Borgna Brunner

Related Links

• Mexico
• Puebla
• Calendar & Holidays
• Cinco de Mayo by the Numbers
• Notable Books by Mexican and Mexican-American Authors

"I couldn't get over how it was a big holiday on one side of the border, the American side."
— a Mexican student studying in El Paso


Looking for a reason to celebrate? Break out a bottle of tequila, or at least a bag of tortilla chips—it's time for Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May). Although it is often referred to as Mexico's Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo actually marks the 1862 battle in Puebla when a small, outnumbered Mexican army defeated the French, a turning point in Mexico's struggle for independence.
Just Another Gringo Holiday . . .

Not to put a damper on the festivities, but Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that is in fact more beloved by Americans than Mexicans. "I couldn't get over how it was a big holiday on one side of the border, the American side," commented a mystified Mexican student studying in El Paso.
One American traveler, after spending a lackluster Cinco de Mayo in central Mexico, learned from a shopkeeper that it was just "a gringo holiday made to sell Mexican beer to Americans."
And We Thought We Were So Cosmopolitan

Why is the holiday a subdued event in its country of origin, while Americans are donning sombreros? One theory is that Cinco de Mayo, first brought to the U.S. by Mexican immigrants during the 1920s, grew in importance when the 1960s Chicano movement adopted the holiday as an avenue for generating ethnic pride.
Its political purpose gradually diminished, thereby opening the holiday up to a wider Mexican-American population, and finally to mainstream America via advertising. Beer and cigarette companies manufactured rowdy Cinco de Mayo fetes that invite comparison to what is referred to as . . .
The St. Patrick's Day Phenomenon

Ironically, for almost its entire history St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated with far greater fanfare in Boston or New York than it was in Galway or Dublin. In Ireland, St. Patrick's feast day was a time to attend church and celebrate in low-key manner—green beer and "Kiss me, I'm Irish buttons" were strictly made in America. Struck by the strange paradox that parts of the world (the U.S., Canada, and Australia) were making a bigger hoopla out of St. Patrick Day than the Emerald Isle itself—the Irish began a national campaign in the last decade to transform St. Patrick's Day into an authentic Irish celebration.
Sombreros and Shamrocks

On a lighter and more charitable note—one in keeping with the spirit of our earlier festive mood—we could always conclude that Americans are simply more advanced than other nations when it comes to the art of the holiday.
With our sombreros and shamrocks, Americans may rightly be accused of mawkish excess, but no one can say we don't know how to have fun.

WE need more messican shit in America.

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

WE need more messican shit in America.

You can have their shit, I'll take their hot women before they have kids and that ass expands.

Originally Posted by BoneCrusher

WE need more messican shit in America.

The 5th of May should be open season on all Mexicans.

How much is a 12 pack of Coronas? I don't think I've drank one since high school.