Why is Cinco de Mayo celebrated in Mexico?

[Rayeli]

Isn't it wierd it's only celebrated here and not where it happened?

[Lord Dalek]

Hmmm, maybe Mexican Independence Day is sort of a quiet tribute in its native land.

[Kurtman]

I'm not Exactly sure.

[Tienshin]

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico's defeat of the French Army in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla. Also, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence day. That is September 16th

[Rayeli]

Aww crap the title says Why 'IS' Cinco de Mayo celebrated in Mexico. Can someone edit that

[Lord Dalek]

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico's defeat of the French Army in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla. Also, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence day. That is September 16th

I hate Google, keeps proving my memories of high school are getting hazzier.

[Anyone00]

It's a holiday celebrating a French defeat, that is something we all can celebrate.

WARNING:

Spoiler:

Kidding, France is a completely different country now than it was under Napoleon III and has been for along time now. Come on some of the moderators are British, they should be able to take a French joke that was all in good fun.
If you were offended, well, you were offended.

[wrenchien]

why shouldn't it be?

[FredNash]

Here's a cool article I saw yesterday from the Houston Chronicle about the history of Cinco De Mayo:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...atures/2549439

It's a quiz!

[HumanoidTyphoon]

Wait are you saying it's not celebrated in Mexico

[True Noir]

I have no answer to that question. I have no idea.

The only thing I know about Cinco de Mayo is that it's called Cinco de Mayo.

[FredNash]

Wait are you saying it's not celebrated in Mexico

4. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated primarily in:

a) The United States.

b) The Mexican state of Puebla.

c) Mexico City.

d) Both a) and b).



Answer: d) A holiday throughout Mexico, it is celebrated most intensely in Puebla, where the battlefield is now a park. But the celebrations are often larger, and certainly more commercial, in the United States, especially Texas and other border states.

Lorenzo Cano, associate director of the Center for Mexican-American Studies at the University of Houston, notes several reasons for the U.S. interest, including the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which pressured schools and other institutions to recognize other cultures; changing demographics, with increased numbers of Hispanics in Texas and elsewhere in the United States; and the decision by beer companies and other business interests to treat Cinco de Mayo as a marketing opportunity.

Interesting stuff, to me at least. I used to know alot about Texas history, when I went to grade school there, it was a whole seperate class, there was History, and then there was Texas History, hehe. Really it deserved it's own course, Texas has a very rich history full of all kinds of cool events and people. Stuff like this is making me realize that I don't know what I used to...

[Ikki D LEO]

You know there is something I don't understand about why we "celebrate" 5 de mayo, I mean yeah we won a battle but we eventually ended up loosing the war, and as very few people(or many I don't really know) outside of Mexico know we were under french rule for a few years afterwards. So why give 5 de mayo such importance?

[Spike Mcdougal]

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico's defeat of the French Army in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla. Also, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence day. That is September 16th

That's also my birthday by the way