Even my calendar at work proclaims May 5th as it really is. It’s not Mexican Independence day. It’s the anniversary of the battle of Puebla, a minor skirmish of some 12000 troops at the end of the Franco-Mexican war. While a defeat for the French, they lost about 500 out of 8000 men, which hardly makes it either a rout nor a crushing blow compared to similar clashes in the American Civil War (Pickett lost 5000 of his 12000 men in about an hour). It’s not a day of celebration in Mexico. There’s a good reason why.
Cinco de Mayo is a regional holiday limited primarily to the state of Puebla while there is some limited recognition of the holiday in other parts of the country. Sold in America as a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture, it is primarily a time to puncture piñatas and binge on booze, the kind of riotous behavior that marks other similar “holidays” such as St. Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest, etc. It can’t be about troubled economic times or the French war. Puebla was not strategic or pivotal, but the victory became a bit of propaganda, similar to Washington’s victory in Trenton on Christmas Day. The French went on to win several battles after Puebla, and Mexico had huge troubles under the Dons just before their independence from Spain. Let’s also remember that George Bush 43 bailed Mexico out with money when their economy went south.
Honestly, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday created by corporations. It’s primarily a day on which beer companies like Cerveza, Corona, and Tecate see a boost in sales. Equally important, Frito-Lay sells loads of chips, dips, and guacamole mix for parties. Forget any attempt to get a reservation in a Mexican restaurant that day. It has largely become a party day dressed up in the drag of something that really wasn’t that pivotal. Whereas most people continue to focus on party and profits, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a growing number want to take back the holiday, returning it to a celebration that focuses on family and culture, instead of on tequila and taquitos.
Consumer advocacy groups point out the true problem of the party phenomenon. Their biggest fears are that Coors and Anheiser-Busch, which have devoted a whole new line of advertising to young Hispanics, have identified the real premise for the party and sought to douse them up with a deluge of drunkenness. If they start drinking earlier, then these companies have new customers for life, even if only this one day per annum. Every holiday can be used as an excuse to overindulge, but the battle of Puebla celebrates a “great Mexican victory” which was in actuality nothing more than France’s version of Pickett’s Charge, which would occur almost exactly a year later in Pennsylvania, equally futile and ill-advised as a miscalculation.
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