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.
No comments:
Post a Comment