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Cinco de
Mayo - The True Story
as told by Jerry P
The holiday of Cinco de Mayo, the 5th of May,
commemorates
the victory of the Mexican militia over the French
army at The Battle of
Puebla in 1862. It is not Mexican Independence
Day. It is primarily
a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican
state capital city of
Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with
some limited
recognition in other parts of Mexico.
The fifth of May is a date of great importance
for the Mexican
and Chicano communities. The “Batalla de Puebla”
came to represent
a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism, for
with this victory, Mexico
demonstrated to the world that Mexico and all
of Latin America were
willing to defend themselves against any foreign
aggression.
Oddly enough, Cinco de Mayo has become more of
a Chicano holiday
than a Mexican one. It is celebrated on a much
larger scale here in the
United States than it is throughout Mexico, and
celebrations here easily
outshine those in Mexico, especially in Texas
and California. The holiday
has been observed in California continuously
since 1863. People of
Hispanic origins in the United States celebrate
this significant day with
parades, mariachi music, folk dancing and other
types of festive activities.
Today the largest celebration occurs in Los Angeles,
with an attendance
of over 600,000.
SIDE NOTE: (The term “Chicano” originated in the
1950s from a
group of Mexican Americans living in the Chicago
area. They referred
to themselves as “Chicago-Mexicanos”. The name
was shortened to
“Chicanos” and is still in popular use today.)
Cinco de Mayo’s history has its roots in the
French Occupation
of Mexico. In 1861, Mexico’s President Benito
Juarez issued a
moratorium in which all foreign debt payments
would be suspended
for a brief period of two years, with the promise
that after this period,
payments would resume. England, Spain, and France
refused to
allow President Juarez to do this, and instead
decided to invade
Mexico and get their money by whatever means
necessary. The
English and Spanish eventually withdrew, but
the French refused to
leave. Their intention was to create a French
Empire in Mexico under
Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon I ).
In 1862, the French army of 8,000 troops began
its advance.
However, they were defeated by 5,000 ill-equipped
Mestizo and
Zapotec Indians, led by Mexican General Ignacio
Zaragoza, in what
came to be known as the “Batalla de Puebla” on
the fifth of May.
In the United States, the “Batalla de Puebla”
came to be known as
simply “Cinco de Mayo”, and many people mistakenly
equate it
with Mexican Independence Day, which was first
celebrated
forty-one years earlier on September 16, 1821.
Cinco de Mayo is not an obligatory federal holiday
in Mexico, but
rather, a holiday that can be observed voluntarily.
While it has limited
significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is
observed in the United
States and other locations around the world as
a celebration of
Mexican heritage and pride. The Battle of Puebla
was important for at
least two reasons. First, although greatly outnumbered,
the Mexicans
defeated a much better-equipped French army,
which had not been
defeated for almost 5o 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.
Cinco de Mayo is perhaps best recognized in the
United States
as a date to celebrate the culture and experiences
of Americans of
Mexican ancestry, much as St. Patrick’s Day,
Oktoberfest, and the
Chinese New Year are used to celebrate those
of Irish, German, and
Chinese ancestry respectively. Similar to those
holidays, it is
observed by many Americans regardless of ethnic
origin. Events
tied to Cinco de Mayo also occur outside Mexico
and the United
States. For example, a sky-diving club near Vancouver,
Canada,
holds a Cinco de Mayo skydiving event. In the
Cayman Islands, in
the Caribbean, there is an annual Cinco de Mayo
air guitar
competition. As far away as the island of Malta,
in the Mediterranean
Sea, revelers are encouraged to drink Mexican
beer on May 5.
In the sixties, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
recorded a song called
“Cinco de Mayo” which was the B-side of his hit
single, “Spanish Flea.”
The city of Puebla is one of the cultural gems
of Mexico. Located
about 70 miles from Mexico City, Puebla contains
more works of art
than any other place in Mexico and the Americas
and has been
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It
is today one of
Mexico’s largest cities, with a population of
almost two million, and a
first-class industrial, commercial and tourism
center. The State of
Puebla, of which the city Puebla is capital,
is located in the south
central portion of the Mexican Republic.
Of interest to Americans is the part which the
Battle of Puebla played in
our own Civil War. The Confederacy had developed
favor with France,
which had been willing to provide arms to the
South. However, getting
them past US Naval vessels was a problem. So,
with France’s control
over Mexico, the arms would come to the Confederacy
from Mexico,
crossing over the Texas border into the southern
states. Cinco de Mayo’s
success crippled the plans of France to smuggle
those arms any longer,
and France turned its attention to preserving
its own interests, dropping
the idea of helping the Confederacy.
The Mexicans had won a great victory at the Battle
of Puebla 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 Union Army crushed the Confederates at Gettysburg
just 14 months
after the Battle of Puebla, essentially ending
the Civil War.
After the Civil War, Union forces were 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 completely expel
the remaining French. The Union soldiers were
discharged and allowed
to keep their uniforms and rifles, if they promised
to join the Mexican
Army to fight the French.
The American Legion of Honor was invited to march in the Victory Parade in Mexico City.
Today, one can only speculate as to how America’s
Civil War might
have turned out……had it not been for the Battle
of Puebla and our
Mexican neighbors stunning victory on Cinco de
Mayo.
...and you thought it was about drinking tequila...