My wife, the middle-class dentist from Mexico, tells me that Cinco-de-Mayo is a result of maleducados (stupid people, basically) immigrating to the US from Mexico. They have no idea what 5-May is for, but it’s something “familiar,” hence they celebrate. If you think of it, the majority of Mexican immigrants aren’t the successful middle-class – they’re the ones who need to escape to survive (for lack of skills or whatever reason).
She (my wife) says that May 1 (their labor day, also Mayday for the rest of the world) is actually more important in Mexico proper. And the real Mexican national holiday is 16-Sep, the Mexican independence.
In Mexico, the gobierno has the day off, but everybody else works and goes to school on 5-May. On the other hand, on 1-May, everybody’s off, i.e., no school, no work, et al.
Sorry, but your wife sounds like a bit of a snob. I’m assuming that she wouldn’t make such statements publicly herself. Calling all Mexican immigrants maleducados is not very nice. Being poor does not mean you have bad manners.
Anyway, it’s not the immigrants who are behind the celebrations in the U.S. as much as the second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans.
Hey, Tatjana Can’t find decent Mexican food in New York? OK, well then, try Zarela’s. It’s owned by this wonderful woman named Zarela Martinez from Guadalajara. It’s absolutely authentic and great, and features cuisines from all different Mexican regions. From Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatan, Veracruz, etc. They even have some dishes prepared with huitlacoche (cuitlacoche.) It’s a bit upscale for what one might normally expect a Mexican joint to be, but it’s dead-on in its menu. If you don’t consider this place to have “decent” Mexican food, then obviously we have two different definitions going on here.
Here in my community, the local radio station staged their own celebration of Cinco de Mayo. They got a 20 gallon vat of mayonnaise, threw in about $5 worth of pennies and one nickel. Everyone got a chance to dip in for a coin, the person who got the nickel won the grand prize (a trip to Acapulco or something).
Of course this has little to do with Cinco de Mayo, but I just had to share it.
There are many national holidays and all are just as real as the next. Some may be celebrated more than others. The 20 de Noviembre or Revolution Day is celebrated as much as Independence Day and deemed by many as important as the 16 de Septiembre.
And the idea that Mexican immigrants aren’t aware of the historical basis for the 5th of May is a load of bull. It appears that your middle-class esposa is the mal educada or perhaps muy creida.
Oops, I didn’t mean to imply that she said there were no other holidays that got celebrated in Mexico. She keeps pointing out that “real” Mexicans (in her opinion) should choose to celebrate a holiday that’s meaningful in Mexico. In her home state of Guanajuato, on 5-May, the kids do have school off (I guess I misunderstood her), but for the majority of the rest of the people, it’s business as usual. Contrast this to 1-May, where school is off, the government’s off, and most businesses are closed, and you can guage the importance of the holiday. Kind of like here in the USA – pretty much everyone gets President’s off, but very few people get Martin Luther King day off (here in Michigan anyway, but it’s getting bigger). Seeing this, which holiday is more “important” to the casual observer?
As for attacking my wife, that’s a little bit premature and perhaps a bit maleducado, too. I suppose it’s partially my fault, since I haven’t enlightened everyone on the specifics of our convesation. She’s merely trying to hypothesize why the heck 5-May means anything here in this strange (to her) country, where it’s a day of absolutely no importance in Guanajuato, and why, if anybody chooses to pick an arbitrary (to her) celebratory day, why not choose one with more meaning?
As for me, I was completely unable to offer her a perspective of why anybody celebrates the holiday here at all, mostly because I don’t know, and I don’t know because it’s not at all important to me personally. And I don’t mean that with disrespect – Canada Day means nothing to me either.
First, to a certain extent it’s true, May 1, Nov. 20, and Sept. 16 are holidays that are far more celebrated than May 5th, but is still considered a mayor event, a mayor military celebration holiday. Just this past May 5th, TeveAzteca (the secon major tv station in Mexico) carried live the military celebration and pomposity where Pres. Fox took part in the events. The difference lies in the way it’s celebrated in Mexico than in the US. Mexico’s take is more like the U.S.'s Remembrance Day or D-Day Celebration. U.S. is akin, well, to Rosebowl Day Parade. The reason Mexicans are puzzled by the way we celebrate May 5th. Imagine people having parades and dances on D-day Celebration.
Second, now, as to why it has gained popularity, I think there are some factors that have converged:
[ul]
[li]Chicano movement of the 60’s and '70s pushed for celebration of May 5th. as a symbol of Mexican nationalism. Celebrating the victory over European imperialists by Indio and mestizo army. This leads to the symbolism of the Chicano fighting the invasion of the Anglo in Aztlan. Many of the youth who celebrated in the '60’s and 70’s now grown up are celebrating it in a less nationalistic sense.[/li][li]Growth of the Mexican community. There has been a huge increase of the Latino community, but a particular numbers still constitutes Mexican people.[/li][li]Companies seeing a growth in Mexican community seek to cash in on a holiday[/li][/ul]
Thanks pulykamell. I knew some New Yorker would react to that statement. Can you give a location for that restaurant? Still, one of the nice things about Mexican food is that it’s usually cheap. I’m a poor student and won’t be going to “upscale” places very often.
Sorry, I’m not a New Yorker…Chicagoan here. According to the handy-dandy search engine, I’m told that Zarela is at 953 Second Ave. (between 50th and 51st.) A lunch’ll set ya back $27. Dinner $35. But c’mon, yer in New York, one of the culinary capitals of the world. You’re trying to tell me you can’t find a decent Mexican restaurant?
For a cheap (by NYC standards,) $10-$20 unpretentious place, my sources advise for you to go to Arriba Arriba, on Third Ave. between 82nd and 83rd. Happy hunting!
IMHO, this is the best answer stated so far. Here in California (and the other border states, I guess), el Cinco has been a big celebration for years. It’s not so much a Mexican thing as a Chicano thing (Chicano meaning Mexican-Americans, usually in California), a celebration of cultural pride. It’s just now catching on around the country - and world, apparently - as a reason to party. BTW, there are also lots of parties around here for 16 del septiembre.
Try the “Fresco Tortilla” storefront operations, then. They’re all over town (Zagat’s will tell you where) but I usually go to the one on the north side of 42nd Street, between 6th and 7th.
The tortillas are made fresh all day long, and filled with a variety of grilled and stewed and chile-ed meat and poultry…lots of vegetarian options, too.
Interestingly, Fresco Tortilla is run by…Chinese people. But what the hell, I understand most of the pizzerias in town are now operated by Albanians.
This is the key. Almost all “ethnic” holidays that we celebrate in America are more important here than in the “old country.” (St. Patrick’s Day, for example, passes all but unnoticed in Ireland, or so I was told by some befuddled Irish tourists last March :)) First generation immigrants tend to downplay their ethnicity. They want to fit into their new county and be “real Americans.” Second and third generations tend to emphasize it. They have always been American, don’t need to prove it, and want to know about their heritage. In many immigrant families, the parents have refused to teach their children the old language, for example. (Granted, this is changing to some extent, but this has been the historic pattern.) Their children and grandchildren are often the ones who want to learn, and to visit the old country and see their roots. “Ethnic” holidays are part of the same pattern. They are a way to show solidarity with the ethnic group, without actually having to learn the language or go anywhere. Further, in the American melting pot tradition, by the time there are second and third generations of a particular ethnic group, a large percentage of the population can claim some part in the heritage. Having your own ethnic holiday on the unofficial calendar of American celebrations is a sign that you have been accepted by the larger community.
My husband and I had dinner last night at a local Mexican restaurant that was advertising a Cinco de Mayo festival. I asked the waiter how it was. He said that he was from Mexico City, and this was his first May here, and he was really touched. The place was packed, and he felt that the customers were showing respect for Mexico and for the culture. He was aware of the party aspect (he worked 14 hours on Saturday!) but felt that the fact that people came out to such a party indicated that many Americans have moved beyond the ethnic stereotypes. He was right. Hispanics are now accepted as part of the American landscape.
I completely concur with this statement. I live in a small town (Alpine) that is ~50% Hispanic in a region (Trans-Pecos Texas) that is ~75% Hispanic and fairly close to the border. Out here (and in other places in Texas that I’ve lived with a large hispanic community), Cinco de Mayo is certainly not some Jose Cuervo-manufactured St. Patty’s Day-esque excuse to party, nor is it some sort of 4th of July-style nationalistic holiday. Instead, like Kyla said, it’s more of a cultural pride celebration that stretches over a week and includes (out here, at least) a Mexican-American film series, bands, a parade, cabrito and menudo cook-offs, etc. A complete celebration of Mexican-American culture which is also embraced by most of us “Anglos” who–in these border regions–are almost as immersed in it as the decendants of the Mexican “immigrants” are.
Denver really kind of has dual Cinco de Mayo celebrations. There is the long standing one(for anybody that doesn’t know, Denver has a large Hispanic population) that has built up over the years and is a celebration of making the traffic really bad in my neighborhood. And now there is also the Government/corporate sponsored celebration downtown which is a celebration of all the white people coming in from the suburbs to get drunk and buy cheesey knick-knacks.
On the point of why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated by non-Latino people in areas without a Latino population, I expect it is due to companies like Cuervo and Corona spreading it out from those areas that have more heritage-related reasons to commemorate the day.
But I think that one of the reasons this holiday caught on and other Mexican celebrations haven’t is timing and the name. Americans wouldn’t celebrate May 1st as Mexican Labor Day, because they already have an American Labor Day to celebrate. And they haven’t adopted September 16th because it’s too close to the American Labor Day.
I’m afraid that Bastille Day will never catch on for the same reason, being only 10 days after American Independence Day.
What we need is a good holiday in mid-summer, like in the last week of July or the first week of August. What culture could provide that? Some booze company should be looking for that one.
In Murray Hill (Cleveland’s Little Italy), the big Italian ethnic bash of the year is August 15th — the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The reason is that at the core of the huge street festival is a fund-raising drive in support of a church there. The big bash that now goes on for days grew up around the church celebration. They still parade a statue of the Virgin festooned with hundreds of banknotes. Cleveland Italians don’t pay any attention to Columbus Day; the Feast on the Hill is the popular favorite with all generations as well as non-Italians.
Now if only it could be a summer get-off-of-work holiday.
And now there is also the Government/corporate sponsored celebration downtown which is a celebration of all the white people coming in from the suburbs to get drunk and buy cheesey knick-knacks.