Similar to a lot of the United States’ observed holidays, people don’t know much about why Cinco De Mayo is a date to remember in Mexico. People usually see holidays like Presidents’ Day as just another day off or St. Patrick’s Day for drinking, and are clueless about their actual meaning. So it is very offensive when you see people on May 5th talking about their Cinco De Mayo fiesta and how many margaritas they plan on drinking with their hard shell tacos. I’ve asked people what they thought Cinco de Mayo was and am appalled by their ignorance; they think its either Mexican Pride Day or Mexican Independence Day. Well, breaking news: Mexican Pride Day does not exist and the Independence is celebrated on September 15th and 16th. People would know that if they could see beyond their cheap party sombreros and bother to look the history up.
There are some who do know the history behind this holiday and it makes me extremely happy and I appreciate it a lot but I don’t meet these types of people very often. Now I will explain why Cinco De Mayo is important to Mexicans and why people who don’t know why should not celebrate it.
As a young country, Mexico was in an economic crisis and sought help from European countries. England, Spain and France went to Mexico through the port city Veracruz on peaceful terms in order to come up with a help agreement, later to be named Dolores Treaty. But France had other motives. With the help of Juan Almonte the Mexican traitor who led the conservatives who opposed Benito Juarez’ government, and the French’s winning streak since the Waterloo battle, France overestimated its power.
I’m an international relations major so let’s use some theories from my world politics class to explain this issue of power overestimation. France was seeking what could be a realist and liberalist approach. It wanted power and money by conquering Mexico. Considering that Mexico had only been independent for about fifty years, France’s more advanced army and extensive wealth would be enough to subdue Mexico. France was not even thinking about bargaining for something since it wanted all of Mexico and thought Mexico was in no position to fight back so war was the way to go and victory seemed obvious to them.
In the first place, a lot of Mexicans from the high class disagreed with having Benito Juarez as their president, he was too native, they claimed. For this we have to keep in mind that there were a lot of race mixtures because of the previous Spanish rule. The mestizos were highly regarded since they were closer to Spanish (white) blood and the Indians were at the bottom. Benito Juarez was Indian so this created discontent with mestizos. Anyway, some of the Mexican conservatives helped the French army in order for Mexico to be rid of its president and join France.
President Benito Juarez of course saw where the French government was heading before any big dispute started so he started moving troops. He knew the Mexican government was not able to afford moving and feeding its troops so they would be prone to loose. Here he said a famous quote “That is exactly why we have to impose our intelligence, the strategy, not to attack, but to defend ourselves.” *This is so beautiful I want to cry*. He was trying to move soldiers close to the French but unfortunately the conservatives set a fire and killed the best troop in Mexico, the Division Oaxaca, in Chalchicomula. This put Mexico in an even worse position since the troop lost its soldiers, weapons, horses and the women helping.
So in the end, France outnumbered Mexico with thousands of men, including French and Mexican conservative men, and started to close in on Mexican soldiers in Puebla. A spy was able to spot the Mexican conservative army so the other Mexicans (I know, confusing right?) knew and prepared for the worse to come on May fifth. Through a good strategy and great courage, Mexico was able to attain victory on May fifth, 1862. “Today the national arms have been covered in glory,” said General Ignacio Zaragoza.
So as you can see, this holyday is extremely important for Mexican patriotism and pride. Even though Mexico fought against the strongest army in the world, they won, we still brag about it. The way it is celebrated in Mexico is by first of all, knowing what the day is about, and holding parades and other kinds of celebrations. It is very unfortunate that the story is quite different in the United States. The fact that Mexico was not conquered by France was actually beneficial to the US so it somewhat makes sense that people here try to celebrate it. But please, learn the history of the holiday so you don’t end up offending anyone by your mindless partying which you think is Cinco de mayo.
Also, if you want to learn more check out "Cinco De Mayo: The Movie" on Netflix!
