Cinco De Mayo And Other Things

It had been mentioned that Mexico’s May 5 holiday - Cinco de Mayo - is more celebrated among Mexicans in the U.S. than it is in Mexico, and that nobody really seems to know why. It appears that many people in the U.S. think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, the equivalent of the Fourth of July. May 5 isn’t an official national holiday in Mexico. Schools have the day off, but businesses open. It marks the Battle of Puebla, in 1862, when the Mexican army led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza defeated French invaders. The following year the Napoleonic troops, with reinforcements, were successful and later installed Austrian archduke Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor.

Mexico’s Independence Day is celebrated on September 16, and that is a national holiday. The date marks the call to arms in 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, which set off a long war for independence from Spain. Independence was finally achieved in 1821.

All of this may become more apparent outside of Mexico in 2010, when the country will mark the 200th anniversary of its Independence and the 100th anniversary of the start of the 1910-1917 Revolution. Revolution Day is November 20.

Detailed information about these two historical events can be found here. The site contains for each period brief biographies of the main characters, a timeline, scanned documents from the nation’s archives, and a fine selection of pictures under the “Mis Recuerdos” link.