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Fri 1 May, 2009 04:29 am
All right, sports fans, let's get this right. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican independence day--that is September 16th. Cinco de Mayo is a traditional celebration, it is not a national holiday in Mexico.
In 1859, the Liberals defeated the Conservatives in the War of the Reform. Thereafter, they repudiated the debts which the Conservatives had contracted in order to fight their losing war. England and France decided to seize the customs house at Veracruz to collect the money owed to their citizens. The Emperor Napoleon III also decided, on behalf of the Mexican Conservatives, to invade Mexico to put an Austrian Archduke on a Mexican imperial throne. When the Brits learned of this, they pulled out of the party.
On May 5, 1862, at Puebla, the Army of the Reform (the Liberals), although outnumbered two to 0ne by the French, whose army was then considered the best in the world, lured the French infantry into a trap, and soundly defeated the French. Benito Juarez thereafter declared May 5 to be a national holiday. Unfortunately, Mr. Juarez was not able to enforce his writs, as the French poured more troops into Mexico, backed by the Belgians. However, in 1867, the French finally withdrew, and the "Emperor" Maximilian was executed by the Mexicans.
Cinco de Mayo is therefore a regional holiday in Mexico, and a traditional celebration in the United States and elsewhere.
Now that we have that cleared up, you may go back to making bad imitations of Mexican cuisine and drinking too much tequila. Carry on.
Thanks for that, set. I love stories of Mexican history.
Thanks for clearing that up Setanta... now I can finish my concha.
@edgarblythe,
I highly re commend to you
Maximilian and Juarez, by Jaspar Ridley, which is where i learned about it. I'll go get some info for you.
Click here to visit the Amazon page for that book, EB. Of course, you don't have to buy the book from them--i'd suggest checking with your local library, and if they don't have the book, i'm sure they can get it for you on inter-library loan.
'Scuse me . . . i misspelled Jasper Ridley's name.
It IS a National holiday, Set, though not a compulsory holiday, like Independence Day (Sept.16), Workers Day (May 1st), Revolution Aniversary (November 20), Christmas and New Year. So the Monday on 5 de mayo week is usually a day-off (but not for newspapers
).
We have a feeling here that 5 de mayo is so important in the US because General Ignacio Zaragoza, who defeated the French, was born in Texas (when Texas was part of Mexico, of course).
Pero, on muchas de las calles de Los Estados Unidos aparece como cada dia es Cinco de Mayo, en mi opinion. Porque tantos Mejicanos son alegres cada dia. Ay caramba.
@fbaezer,
I thought that gentleman's name was Seguin . . . i'll take your word for it. If i recall correctly, Porfirio Diaz commanded the cavalry or some of the cavalry, which rode down the French infantry after they had been lured into the ravine.
I'll be in So. Cal. I expect to sample some pretty good Mexican cuisine.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
I thought that gentleman's name was Seguin . . . i'll take your word for it. If i recall correctly, Porfirio Diaz commanded the cavalry or some of the cavalry, which rode down the French infantry after they had been lured into the ravine.
Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín (thanks to you I found out his second last name -his mother's maiden name), born in Presidio del Espíritu Santo, Texas, México, now Goliad, Texas, USA.
And yes, Porfirio was there.
Do you know that several streets in Mexico are named
Coronel Porfirio Díaz? This implies that the old General-dictator does not deserve a street, but the good Colonel-war hero does.
@George,
Where, approximately, George? There are some good small restaurants tipico of different regions..
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