Cinco De Mayo: What does it mean?

Welcome to the first installment of "style of the week"!  In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we will be talking about the styles associated with this Mexican themed holiday, as well as the history.

Source: google.com

Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is in fact NOT the celebration of Mexican Independence.  Mexican Independence occured on September 16th, 1810, also known as Grito de Delores.

I want to start by first saying, before I took a Mexican History course last quarter, I honestly was no sure what Cinco de Mayo celebrated.  I knew it wasn't Mexican Independence day, but that was about it.  People drink margaritas, eat some delicious tacos, and walk around with sombreros and ponchos celebrating this seemingly Mexican holiday. However, the fifth of May actually had nothing to do with Mexican Independence day.

In 1862, 52 years after Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the Battle of Puebla took place in Puebla, Mexico, about 100 miles from Mexico City.  French troops led by General Laurencez invaded Mexico in retaliation of debts that had not been repayed by the Mexican government due to the recent Mexican-American War, which left Mexico's economy in shambles.  Mexican president Benito Juarez had no choice but to suspend payments to France, who refused to compromise.  

French troops outnumbered the Mexican forces by 2,000 troops, yet because of the French's unfamiliarity with Puebla's landscape (including muddy, uneven fields, adobe ruins, ditches, and the slope of Guadalupe Hills) by the time they reached the Mexican Troops, the French were exhausted, disbanded, while General Zaragoza of Mexico stood their ground.  The French were forced to flee to the coast.  Thus, Cinco de Mayo was created!

Now, we see styles such as this:

Source: Tumblr.com

and this:

Source: Blogspot.com

and sometimes even this:

Source: Tumblr.com

floating around on Cinco de Mayo. I conducted a survey asking a group of people ranging from 18-50 about their opinion regarding these styles representing the idea of Cinco de Mayo.  About half of the responses came back expressing that these images do in fact represent Cinco de Mayo.  While most of the yes answers felt that way because of the often seen Mexican sombreros and ponchos, a few explained that these styles represent Cinco de Mayo because that is exactly how people who actually live in Mexico DON'T celebrate Cinco de Mayo like they do in the United States. The Sambreos and ponchos became a culture appropriation of the Mexican culture.

 But at the end of the day, only 3 out of 18 responses explicitly responded saying that Cnco de Mayo is Mexican Independence day, amongst "I don't know's" and "Excuse to drink".  I believe that means we are already moving in a direction to educate people about Cinco de Mayo and its real existance.  How this date migrated up to the north we're not sure, but it is a great way to celebrate Mexican culture, just make sure to get your facts!

Xoxo-Lily

Information used to discuss the Battle of Puebla can be found here.