Cinco De Mayo

Guacamole and fajitas. Mexican flags and mariachi bands. Margaritas, beer – and more beer, sometimes with lime. It’s May 5, and America is celebrating Cinco de Mayo – but why? The Mexican holiday is still celebrated in Mexico, but the local tributes appear to be unimportant when compared to the giant celebration in the United States, complete with restaurant specials, high-volume advertising and endless promotion. The United States and
Mexico have had complex relations for a long time, and the situation got worse when Donald
Trump became the US President. But the two countries are united in one thing, and that’s the celebration called Cinco de Mayo.
Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for ‘fifth of May.’ It commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French at the Battle of Puebla on

Four days after the battle, on May
9th, 1862, the President of Mexico, Benito Juárez, declared the anniversary of the battle a national holiday.
California was Mexican territory untilthe 1840s and obviously many Mexicans were still living there when it became part of the United States. They also started celebrating the anniversary. Today, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday in the states of Puebla and Veracruz in
Mexico. And since the 1950s, it has been celebrated in many US cities.
Cinco de Mayo became really popular in the US in the 1980s.
In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo continues to be a celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. But in the United States, it has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture andheritage. There are hundreds of events around the country. Many of them have traditional
Mexican music, dancing and food. And many schools have special events to educate students about the day’s historical significance. People sometimes confuse Cinco de Mayo with
Mexican Independence Day. But that’s another celebration, on September