Found this article thru google about cinco de mayo leme know what you think about what it says:
Ever wonder why the Cinco de Mayo is such a big deal in the US and not so big in Mexico? (Y menos en Yucatan!)
I know I have always wondered what the hell the big deal was with the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the USA when the real action in Mexico happens around the independence of the country, celebrated in September. So I found it most enlightening to discover an article in the local paper (it was published in the Diario, so it must be true) written by a Mexican in the US by the name of Cesar Fernando Zapata who lives in Fort Myers, Florida.
He wonders the same thing and has suggested a few reasons why it is so important there.
While not completely ignored in Mexico (it is a semi-official holiday and recognized by the Revolution-crazy Mexican historians) the 5th of May is the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, in which national forces defeated the French army sent by that loco imperialista, Napoleon III, who commanded one of the world's most powerful armies of the time.
One of the reasons the date is important in the US is that, interestingly, the victorious Mexican army was led by Ignacio Zaragoza, who was born in Texas. Mr. Zapata tells us that this he is therefore a true symbol representing Mexican Americans.
Mr Zapata also claims that perhaps without the victory on that day, slavery might not have been abolished and perhaps the USA we know and bitch about today might be a completely different animal altogether. At the time of the famous battle, 1861 to 1865, the US was embroiled in the worst war in it's history (so far; the final results of the Iraq intervention are still up in the air) the Civil War. Some historians claim that Napoleons' true intentions were not so much to invade Mexico (which he eventually did anyway) but to establish a base in the continent from which to provide arms and support to the forces fighting on the Confederate side who were fighting to separate from the northern, anti-slavery Union states.
What would have happened had he won that battle? He most surely would have been able to support the Confederate army which would probably have won the Civil war, thereby creating a separate country. Slavery-friendly states like Virginia, Texas, Florida and Georgia would then have set their expansionist sights on Mexico.
The victory at Puebla made Napoleon change his strategy; he postponed his invasion for a year. By the time France had effectively conquered Mexico in 1863 and 1864, Abraham Lincoln had defeated the separatist Confederate forces thereby abolishing slavery, maintaining the unity of the all the United States, north and south. As a matter of fact, one of the first things that Lincoln did after the civil war was to send arms and support to Mexico to help the Mexicans keep the French out of North America!
So perhaps, as Mr. Zapata suggests, it is fitting that the Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with such fanfare in the US, since the country might be completely different had the Mexicans not won the Battle of Puebla.
Ever wonder why the Cinco de Mayo is such a big deal in the US and not so big in Mexico? (Y menos en Yucatan!)
I know I have always wondered what the hell the big deal was with the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the USA when the real action in Mexico happens around the independence of the country, celebrated in September. So I found it most enlightening to discover an article in the local paper (it was published in the Diario, so it must be true) written by a Mexican in the US by the name of Cesar Fernando Zapata who lives in Fort Myers, Florida.
He wonders the same thing and has suggested a few reasons why it is so important there.
While not completely ignored in Mexico (it is a semi-official holiday and recognized by the Revolution-crazy Mexican historians) the 5th of May is the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, in which national forces defeated the French army sent by that loco imperialista, Napoleon III, who commanded one of the world's most powerful armies of the time.
One of the reasons the date is important in the US is that, interestingly, the victorious Mexican army was led by Ignacio Zaragoza, who was born in Texas. Mr. Zapata tells us that this he is therefore a true symbol representing Mexican Americans.
Mr Zapata also claims that perhaps without the victory on that day, slavery might not have been abolished and perhaps the USA we know and bitch about today might be a completely different animal altogether. At the time of the famous battle, 1861 to 1865, the US was embroiled in the worst war in it's history (so far; the final results of the Iraq intervention are still up in the air) the Civil War. Some historians claim that Napoleons' true intentions were not so much to invade Mexico (which he eventually did anyway) but to establish a base in the continent from which to provide arms and support to the forces fighting on the Confederate side who were fighting to separate from the northern, anti-slavery Union states.
What would have happened had he won that battle? He most surely would have been able to support the Confederate army which would probably have won the Civil war, thereby creating a separate country. Slavery-friendly states like Virginia, Texas, Florida and Georgia would then have set their expansionist sights on Mexico.
The victory at Puebla made Napoleon change his strategy; he postponed his invasion for a year. By the time France had effectively conquered Mexico in 1863 and 1864, Abraham Lincoln had defeated the separatist Confederate forces thereby abolishing slavery, maintaining the unity of the all the United States, north and south. As a matter of fact, one of the first things that Lincoln did after the civil war was to send arms and support to Mexico to help the Mexicans keep the French out of North America!
So perhaps, as Mr. Zapata suggests, it is fitting that the Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with such fanfare in the US, since the country might be completely different had the Mexicans not won the Battle of Puebla.
