Why do people celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
They’re not doing it because it’s the Mexican Fourth of July, as you may already know, since U.S. news media have made it their mission in recent years to dispel this common misconception. (Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16.) As for what is being celebrated … well, the short answer is that Cinco de Mayo is a demonstration of one of the great truths of our time: you can make a holiday out of anything if you throw in enough beer.
The long answer – or at any rate the long answers commonly offered – are more mystifying. The same news accounts clarifying that Cinco de Mayo isn’t celebrating Mexican independence go on to explain that what’s actually being commemorated is the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which outnumbered Mexican forces defeated an invading French army. What they don’t get into is why anyone should care about this. The battle wasn’t decisive and isn’t widely celebrated in Mexico now. Cinco de Mayo is a major holiday only in the U.S.
How did this come to be? Even Mexican-Americans have a hard time explaining it. You can’t pin the whole thing on the beer industry – Cinco de Mayo had evolved from a remembrance of an obscure military victory into an American celebration of Mexican heritage long before the holiday became Drinko de Mayo. But that’s like saying birds evolved from dinosaurs – one wants some idea of the intervening steps.
There are lots of intervening steps – we’ll get to that. But the bottom line is this. There’s a perfectly logical reason for Mexican-Americans, and for that matter all Americans, to remember the Battle of Puebla: it marks a time when the U.S. and Mexico stood together to fight for democracy and human rights. A tough message to fit into a beer commercial, you say? Baloney, it’d make a great beer commercial. It has this going for it: it makes a great story, it deserves to be better told, and it’s basically the truth.
I base the account below largely on El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition (2012) by David Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine and director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. Hayes-Bautista provides exhaustive detail about the origins of Cinco de Mayo, but – meaning no disrespect – he’s not as aggressive as he might be about connecting the dots. So let’s take a stab: Mexico’s surprise victory at Puebla on Cinco de Mayo stalled French imperialist ambitions long enough for the U.S. to win the Civil War, end slavery, and rid the New World of colonialism once and for all.
OK, I’m dancing over a lot of nuance there. A thorough treatment would take a book, but let’s run through the high points:
-
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which settled the Mexican-American War and ceded the Pacific coast to the U.S., the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of the region suddenly find themselves U.S. citizens. Freaked out at the prospect of being pushed aside by slave-holding Anglos, they help write the California state constitution, which outlaws slavery and requires that government acts be published in both English and Spanish.
-
Latinos form more than a hundred juntas patrióticas mejicanas (Mexican patriotic associations) totaling almost 14,000 members throughout California and in Oregon and Nevada. Working closely with the region’s Spanish-language newspapers, the juntas are the voice of the Mexican-American community and organize events and activities. In other words, they’re not the helpless victims they’re sometimes portrayed to be, but are organized and get stuff done.
-
In 1861, French emperor Louis Napoleon III sends troops to Mexico, ostensibly to prevent the Mexican government from postponing debt payments. In reality, he wants to establish a puppet empire in the Americas with the connivance of Mexican monarchists while the U.S. has its hands full fighting the Civil War. According to Hayes-Bautista, Napoleon III toys with an alliance with the Confederacy, the better to check U.S. expansion and create opportunities for France.
-
Most U.S. Latinos want France gone and the Confederacy defeated. Among other provocations, military adventurers called filibusters, mostly from slave states, had organized freelance expeditions to Latin American countries during the 1850s to stir up insurrection and, in some cases, establish pro-slavery regimes.
-
The French expeditionary force heads for Mexico City but first has to get past fortifications near the town of Puebla. Figuring the Mexicans will be pushovers, the French foolishly attempt a frontal assault. Bad idea. They suffer horrific casualties and flee. Jubilant, Mexican president Benito Juarez declares Cinco de Mayo a national holiday. The following year, a junta patriótica in Los Angeles organizes the first official U.S. Cinco de Mayo celebration, independent of the Mexican one. It goes over big and soon juntas all over California are organizing their own celebrations.
-
For Mexico, the military situation goes downhill after 1862. The French regroup, defeat Mexican forces at the Second Battle of Puebla a year after the first one, and capture Mexico City, where they install Maximillian I as emperor. The Juarez government doesn’t surrender and keeps up a guerilla struggle.
-
The Confederacy after much exertion having been dispatched, the U.S. turns its attention to Mexico and tells the French to beat it. They do. The Maximillian government collapses.
-
The Cinco de Mayo celebration in Mexico peters out in the early twentieth century for reasons I won’t get into. The American version turns into a celebration of Mexican culture and takes on a life of its own, with parades, pageantry, music, etc. The old juntas patrióticas are long gone and nobody remembers why the Battle of Puebla was so important, but something always comes along to breathe new life into the tradition. Example: Chicano activists in the 1960s like the idea of struggling against imperialism. Upshot: Cinco de Mayo never gets old.
-
It’s the 1980s and the beer industry discovers the Latino market. A beer festival in early May with a catchy name turns out to be an easy sell – who knew? Soon Cinco de Mayo has turned into the Mexican St. Patrick’s Day. Showing the class and sensitivity for which it has long been known, the U.S. marketing industry cranks out numerous cringeworthy promotions involving sombreros, mariachi bands, and busty women with come-hither looks. Progressive academics fulminate about cultural appropriation, commoditized racism, and similar matters. On the other hand, Mexican restaurants, most of which based on your columnist’s extensive research in Chicago are owned and operated by Mexican-Americans, do outstanding business on Cinco de Mayo, so you can’t say it’s been all bad.
-
Still, one does have the nagging problem that nobody, including Mexican-Americans, really knows why we’re celebrating an obscure battle – a lost opportunity in my book. More might be done to improve this narrative. Some claim Mexico, by defeating the invaders at Puebla and keeping up the fight for years afterward, prevented the French from allying themselves with the Confederacy and thereby enabled the Union to prevail. That’s debatable, but who’s to say? Fact is, dark forces had designs on both Mexico and the U.S., and they all came to nothing because the Mexicans fought back, most conspicuously on the Cinco de Mayo. This is a matter of which Mexican-Americans can be justly proud, and for which all other Americans, or anyway this American, would be happy to raise a glass in grateful solidarity. OK, it’s still Mexican Beer Drinking Day, but it gives one occasion to reflect, and don’t we all need more opportunities to do that?
– CECIL ADAMS
After some time off to recharge, Cecil Adams is back! The Master can answer any question. Post questions or topics for investigation in the Cecil’s Columns forum on the Straight Dope Message Board, boards.straightdope.com/.