Cinco de Mayo ought to quietly reflect Mexican pride

The way the calendar worked out this year, most of the public Cinco de Mayo festivities were actually held on the Tres or Cuatro of the month – and that is a good thing.

Now that the parades and costumes, the food and drink (particularly the overindulgence of alcoholic beverages) are over, perhaps we can spend the actual holiday in reflection over why anyone in Mexico would think there to be a significance in the date of May 5.

THE KEY FOR comprehending the holiday for Anglo- and Afro-America is to note that it is purely a Mexican thing; the date has no significance to anyone who is Puerto Rican, Cuban, Venezuelan or any other Latin American ethnicity.

So any attempt to make this a universal Hispanic festival is gaudy at best, and ignorant at worst. Not to say that those of us who are of Mexican descent don’t want you to join in our celebration. You were more than welcome.

But May 5, 1862 was a date of significance to Mexicans in their country’s continued 19th Century struggle to gain, and maintain, its independence. It is a date that in Mexico is usually celebrated with solemn ceremonies, similar to how people in this country might mark Flag Day or Veterans’ Day.

Independence Day (Sept. 16) is the Mexican holiday that warrants the big festivities and shows of patriotism, the fireworks and “los gritos de independencia.”
This is what Cinco de Mayo has become, in the minds of some people. Illustration provided by http://ramosrecords.com/

TO SOMEONE FROM Mexico, the massive display of Mexican-ness that we put on for Cinco de Mayo seems a bit over the top.

So what is the point of the holiday?

It marks the date of the Battle of Puebla, where Mexican rebels (a Mexican resistance, so to speak) challenged a French garrison near the city of Puebla in central Mexico. And unlike some battles where both sides take one or two factual elements and stretch them out of proportion to claim victory, this was a victory for the Mexican ethnic forces – they drove French troops from the city.

One has to keep in mind that in the late 1850s, French leaders were regretting their decision of a few decades earlier to sell off their colonies on the North American continent (remember the Louisiana Purchase?). So they used the weakened financial state of Mexico following its war with the United States to justify seizing control over the country.

IN 1862, MAXIMILIAN von Hapsburg (a member of the Austrian royal family) was installed by the French as Emperor of Mexico. To ensure that he could keep power, France sent significant military troops to back him up.

Now for all those people who like to talk about World War II and make jokes about “cheese eating surrender monkeys” whenever France comes up in discussion, keep in mind that the French military of the 19th Century was still one of the world’s supreme military powers. The United States never would have gained independence without its assistance.

So for a Mexican resistance movement to try to take France on with force was a bold gesture.

For them to actually gain a military victory in their first confrontation was a serious blow to the French collective ego. It also provided a serious inspiration to the concept of an independent Mexican nation – it was a moment when the Mexican people were able to show themselves to be as good as, if not superior to, one of the great powers of the world.

THAT IS THE concept that is commemorated on May 5 each year, and it is an ideal that should never be forgotten. Not even today.

We are in an era in this country where some people want to demonize the political issues tied to immigration, and some want to view it as a problem of too many people from Latin America wanting to have a life in the United States.

Some even go so far in their minds as to label it “too many Mexicans” (because they’re too ignorant to tell the difference between Spanish-speaking ethnicities), and make cracks about the corrupt, poverty-stricken nation that lies south of the Rio Bravo del Norte/Rio Grande (even though Mexico is far from the poorest country of the Americas, let alone the world).

We ought to use the date of May 5 to remind these people that the growing ethnic Mexican population in this country is here, particularly in the southwestern part of the country that was once a part of Mexico and the Spanish-speaking influence is one that will never be eradicated.

ON THE OTHER hand, we should not over-exaggerate the significance of May 5. That date was the start of a Mexican fight for re-independence, and it was one that took five years to complete. French forces eventually got tired of the massive amounts of military aid they had to provide to prop up Maximilian. After they pulled out, it took only a few months before he abdicated, was captured and executed by Mexican forces.

It was the start of a fight, not the complete fight. And ultimately, it took assistance from the United States following the end of this country’s civil war to help break what had become a stalemate between Maximilian’s French-provided military and Mexican rebels.

So aside from keeping Mexican pride in mind, we also ought to realize the date is a part of the combined history of the United States and Mexico. The two countries really are a part of one larger entity with so much in common.

If contemplation of that fact comes on this day, then the holiday will have served a true purpose – one much more significant than the overcooked tamales and cans of Corona that you may have consumed during the weekend.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Cinco de Mayo is part of the larger story of how the Mexican resistance kept France from providing military assistance to the Southern rebels (http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2003/04/29/hispanidad_may_5_shows_usmexico_ties/2126/) who wanted to push for secession. In French history, the whole “Mexican Intervention” is remembered as one of the country’s biggest mistakes.

Portland, Ore., likes to do up the Cinco de Mayo holiday (http://www.cincodemayo.org/) with a weekend-long festival that runs through Monday. I wonder what the Germans (http://newsticker.welt.de/index.php?channel=fin&module=smarthouse&id=718549) think of us for turning this holiday of Mexican pride into a free taco festival?

For those who want to think of the holiday as a food festival (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/03/BAP010G7RL.DTL), San Francisco could keep your taste buds going.