Why gringos celebrate cinco de Mayo.

It's that time of year!  Just like on St Patrick's day when everyone is Irish (even though St Patrick wasn't)  the fifth of May or Cinco de Mayo.. Everyone's Mexican!   People do their best to make something "Mexican" to eat, drink Cuervo and Coronas (cuz we all know that's as Mexican as you can get haha ) and wear huge sombreros..  and If you're a college kid well you do all that in excess of course Woo Drinko de Mayo!

http://fhhispaniaplaza.com/

What a way to celebrate ... wait.. what are we celebrating? Is it..

Mexican Independence day?  Nope
Mexican Revolution?  Nope
Mexican flag day? Nope
Mexicans day?  ha ha.

Let me tell you why gringos celebrate 5 de Mayo, because yes as a Mexican born in the U.S but raised in Mexico I can tell you, Mexicans don't celebrate that day. They Observe it much like Martin Luther king day is observed, kids in schools get a history lesson on what happened that day and the people playing a part in it  but there are no  parties and no drinking binges.

It would be safe to say that Cinco de Mayo is an American holiday. La Batalla de Puebla  (battle of Puebla) was won that day, the French were to invade Mexico and some say the  ultimate motive was to break the union up and help the confederacy during the civil war which was happening at the time in the U.S. Napoleon III was already helping the confederate rebels and well Those Machete carrying indios you could say.. stopped Napoleon from supplying help to the confederates for another year by defeating the french and thus could most likely be a huge reason the civil war ended.  Ah Mexicans.. always doing the dirty work!

So this fifth of May,  sure eat some Mexican cuisine, drink a beer (can I recommend Negra Modelo) and maybe some Tequila (Don Julio is awesome)  but think about how regardless of your views on immigration those neighbors from the south are friends.  When the nation's  faced tragedy like 911 or Katrina , Mexico has always had their peaceful army ready to go and supply aide. When Americans have wanted a vacation in paradise at a low cost.. Mexico welcomes them with open arms no visa needed (except for the one the U.S makes you get now grr) . Let go of your prejudices for one day and learn something about the rich culture, traditions and color of Mexico.

And if you didn't know what cinco de Mayo was.. now you know.  

This Post was written for Bicultural Mom's Multicultural Awareness Blog Carnival! Which will be Published May 2nd 2011   :)

:)