5 de mayo rant

Textkit Community Open Board
1

Ok, this is not a big rant, but I do want to get this off my chest: What is all the fuss about “5 de mayo” in the U.S.? Yes, I know that we defeated the French in Puebla, but ever since I was a kid, I never got the impression that this was a major holiday in Mexico. It’s almost like Flag Day or Day of the Constitution, dates which the majority of my fellow countrymen don’t pay any attention to. As far as I’m concerned, the only two major celebrations (neither of which I commemorate, btw) are September 16 (Independence day) and November 20 (the Mexican Revolution). Yet, these dates don’t get any recognition in the U.S. And why should they? But with 5 de mayo things are different. I don’t get it!

Now, supposing it were a major celebration, I could understand illegal immigrants observing it: after all, they might one day return to their country of origin. But why has it also become a symbol for Mexicans born in the U.S.? They have no reason to celebrate a battle for a piece of land which is no longer theirs.

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. Don’t mean to be a poo-poo party, but if anyone can convince of why it should be a big holiday in a foreign country, I would like to know, because these thoughts drive me crazy every year. :angry:

2

Have a look at:

Cinco de Mayo’s First Seventy-Five Years in Alta California: From Spontaneous Behavior to Sedimented Memory, 1862 to 1937. The Southern California Quarterly, HSSC, 2007. Hayes-Bautista, David E.; Chamberlin, Cynthia L.

It’s a paper that describes the history of the holiday and why it has specific meaning to “latino” immigrants in the US. Basically, the famous victory played a major role in creating a collective identity for those immigrants, who were facing various “social strains,” and they have been celebrating it continuously since.

3

Exactly; it is to Hispanic-Americans what St. Patrick’s Day (which isn’t that widely celebrated in Ireland) is to Irish-Americans.

4

You know, now that you mention St. Patrick’s Day, it does kinda make sense. I’ll have to think more about it, though. :confused:

5

It’s also a good excuse for the rest of us to drink Coronas.

6

I second that.