Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Published by Lois Lame, Subscriber Services, Lifestyles Reporting, Cool Music and LIVE Webcams

It's May 5th.  It's Cinco de Mayo!

Yes, it's the day we drink Corona with a slice of lime instead of our usual Bud Light or Milwaukee Best.  It's the day we forego our favorite single-malt scotch or sour mash Tennessee sippin' whiskey for tequila.  Some of us drink shots of tequila, but most of us drink margaritas.  And instead of our usual hot wings or bacon cheeseburgers, we risk indigestion and eat hard-shelled tacos or soft-shelled bean burrito with lots of hot sauce. 

If only our local wineries produced a Mexican wine, we could support them and drink Mexican wine on Cinco de Mayo.  But alas they don't!  Or maybe one of them does?!  Stone Hill has that Jackass (sp?) wine!  Kinda looks like a Mexican burro kicking up its heels on that cute wine bottle they have!  Maybe I'll drink some of that Jackass (sp?) wine today!

But aside from all the obligatory adult beverages, what really is Cinco de Mayo, you ask?  And why do we celebrate it? 

Hermann Hearsay is here to provide you some answers!  You could have looked it up yourself, but we've gone ahead and done that for you.  Just one of the many FREE services we provide to our subscribers!  Here's what we found at Wikipedia ........

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday celebrated in the United States and primarily limited to the state of Puebla in Mexico. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

Cinco de Mayo is not "an obligatory federal holiday" in Mexico, but rather a holiday that can be observed voluntarily. While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States (also voluntarily) and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, which actually is September 16, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

History
In 1861, Benito Juarez stopped making interest payments to countries that Mexico owed money to. In response, France attacked Mexico to force payment of this debt. France decided that it would try to take over and occupy Mexico. France was successful at first in its invasion; however, on May 5, 1862, at the city of Puebla, Mexican forces were able to defeat an attack by the larger French army. In the Battle of Puebla, the Mexicans were led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. Although the Mexican army was victorious over the French at Puebla, the victory only delayed the French advance on Mexico City. A year later, the French occupied Mexico. The French occupying forces placed Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico on the throne of Mexico in 1864. The French, under pressure from the United States, eventually withdrew in 1866-1867. Maximilian was deposed by President Benito Juarez and executed, five years after the Battle of Puebla.

The Battle of Puebla was important for at least two reasons. First, although considerably outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army. "This battle was significant in that the 4,000 Mexican soldiers were greatly outnumbered by the well-equipped French army of 8,000 that had not been defeated for almost 50 years." Second, it was significant because since the Battle of Puebla no country in the Americas has been invaded by an army from another continent.

History of Observance

According to a paper published by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture about the origin of the observance of Cinco de Mayo in the United States, the modern American focus on the people of the world that day first started in California in the 1860s in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico. The 2007 paper notes that "The holiday, which has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863, is virtually ignored in Mexico."


Lois Lame
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