Luis Perez (St. Petersburg Times via Seattle Times edited for Wisdom Quarterly)
It's Cinco de Mayo today, Thursday, May 5. Perhaps you're heading to a local stand to munch on veggie tacos and throw back salt-rimmed virgin margaritas with lots of fresh lime.
But does anyone know the history behind the multicultural party?
Cinco de Mayo ("5th of May") commemorates the day in 1862 when the Mexican army fought back and defeated the French army in a David-and-Goliath-like battle.
That year, Napoleon III invaded Mexico ostensibly to collect money "owed" colonial master France. Historians say Napoleon really wanted to take over his enemy, the United States. Pres. Lincoln was busy with the Civil War and did not get involved in the ensuing fight near Mexico City.
The Battle of Puebla lasted two hours. The Mexican army, led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, was 4,000 strong. The troops wielded machetes and ingenuity to defeat Napoleon's better-equipped force of 8,000 soldiers, or so the glorified war story goes.
For Mexican-Americans, who make up more than 10 percent of the nation's population [a number that is growing due to blending so that nearly everyone has a spouse, relative, or significant other who is at least part Hispanic, as suggested by the 2010 US Census], Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that stokes national pride. [And it shares in small part the Francophobia we as American inherited from our English cultural forbears].
But many Americans mistakenly believe the holiday is Mexico's Independence Day. That actually falls in September. Full story
It's Cinco de Mayo today, Thursday, May 5. Perhaps you're heading to a local stand to munch on veggie tacos and throw back salt-rimmed virgin margaritas with lots of fresh lime.But does anyone know the history behind the multicultural party?
Cinco de Mayo ("5th of May") commemorates the day in 1862 when the Mexican army fought back and defeated the French army in a David-and-Goliath-like battle.
That year, Napoleon III invaded Mexico ostensibly to collect money "owed" colonial master France. Historians say Napoleon really wanted to take over his enemy, the United States. Pres. Lincoln was busy with the Civil War and did not get involved in the ensuing fight near Mexico City.
The Battle of Puebla lasted two hours. The Mexican army, led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, was 4,000 strong. The troops wielded machetes and ingenuity to defeat Napoleon's better-equipped force of 8,000 soldiers, or so the glorified war story goes.
For Mexican-Americans, who make up more than 10 percent of the nation's population [a number that is growing due to blending so that nearly everyone has a spouse, relative, or significant other who is at least part Hispanic, as suggested by the 2010 US Census], Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that stokes national pride. [And it shares in small part the Francophobia we as American inherited from our English cultural forbears].
But many Americans mistakenly believe the holiday is Mexico's Independence Day. That actually falls in September. Full story
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