Friday, May 5, 2017

5 de 5

Today is May 5th - Cinco de Mayo - a day celebrated by Mexicans, and more recently by just about everybody.
Celebrations are marked by parades, traditional Mexican dancing and the three Ts - Tecate, tequila and tacos.  But I would bet that not one in five people know what they are celebrating.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the day in 1862 when a small force of Mexicans defeated a much larger force of French invaders at the Battle of Puebla.  In the overall scheme of things, it was a relatively insignificant victory - the French went on to win the war and install Maxmilian I as the Emperor of Mexico.  The French weren't actually thrown out of Mexico until 1866, and the Mexicans didn't have a Mexican president until June 5, 1867.  

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