Cinco de Mayo
I apologize for being horribly dilatory because Cinco de Mayo was yesterday. Today, I believe, is the 6th of May. In case you don't dwell in a place with a Mexican heritage, or even if you do but don't know much about your Hispanic neighbors (tsk! tsk!), let me remind you about Cinco de Mayo.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory of Mexican forces over the invading French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Why this is a Big Deal, I'm not sure. Maybe since it was the first and one of the only battles that the Mexicans won against the French because after the battle of Puebla the French continued to trounce the Mexicans, overtook Mexico City, installed their own Emperor of Mexico (Maximilian I), and generally ruled Mexico until 1867. I don't think Maximilian was a particularly bad foreign emperor, as far as foreign-born, foreign court appointed emperors go, apart from giving himself and his adopted heirs arduously long titles. He enacted several liberal reforms that the Mexican revolutionaries wanted such as land reform, religious freedoms, and extending (slightly) voting rights. Poor dude, the Mexican revolutionaries had him executed in June 1867. But that Maximilian was a clever and self-interested guy and bribed all of the soldiers in his firing squad not to shoot him in the head so he would survive his execution! One shot him in the head anyway-- so much for bribery.
So don't be confused, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day; it's mostly just an excuse for a party! Strangely, it's almost more of a holiday in Mexican-American communities than in Mexico. Mexican Independence Day is September 16th commemorating that day in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bell to gather the town of Dolores about him and issued a stirring speech urging Mexican Independence. "El Grito de Dolores" was the name of the speech which translates into English as both "The cry from [the town of] Dolores" and "The cry of pain." I would call Hidalgo the Mexican version of Thomas Paine of the American revolution. Of course, Mexican Independence Day isn't the day when Mexico actually gained its independence from Spain. That didn't happen until 11 years later in 1821. Crystal clear? good. I hope you enjoyed your Cinco de Mayo yesterday and remember that any day is a good excuse for a party; you can always find something in history worth celebrating.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory of Mexican forces over the invading French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Why this is a Big Deal, I'm not sure. Maybe since it was the first and one of the only battles that the Mexicans won against the French because after the battle of Puebla the French continued to trounce the Mexicans, overtook Mexico City, installed their own Emperor of Mexico (Maximilian I), and generally ruled Mexico until 1867. I don't think Maximilian was a particularly bad foreign emperor, as far as foreign-born, foreign court appointed emperors go, apart from giving himself and his adopted heirs arduously long titles. He enacted several liberal reforms that the Mexican revolutionaries wanted such as land reform, religious freedoms, and extending (slightly) voting rights. Poor dude, the Mexican revolutionaries had him executed in June 1867. But that Maximilian was a clever and self-interested guy and bribed all of the soldiers in his firing squad not to shoot him in the head so he would survive his execution! One shot him in the head anyway-- so much for bribery.
So don't be confused, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day; it's mostly just an excuse for a party! Strangely, it's almost more of a holiday in Mexican-American communities than in Mexico. Mexican Independence Day is September 16th commemorating that day in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bell to gather the town of Dolores about him and issued a stirring speech urging Mexican Independence. "El Grito de Dolores" was the name of the speech which translates into English as both "The cry from [the town of] Dolores" and "The cry of pain." I would call Hidalgo the Mexican version of Thomas Paine of the American revolution. Of course, Mexican Independence Day isn't the day when Mexico actually gained its independence from Spain. That didn't happen until 11 years later in 1821. Crystal clear? good. I hope you enjoyed your Cinco de Mayo yesterday and remember that any day is a good excuse for a party; you can always find something in history worth celebrating.
posted by LAV at 06:24
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home