What is Cinco de Mayo 2017? What Is This Celebration All About?
One of the most anticipated celebrations during the month of May is the Cinco de Mayo. Every year, people from the Southwest states look forward to this day as they associate it with parades and other recreations. What many people do not know is that there is more to this day than just such festivities.
As its name suggests, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated every 5th of May. This yearly event was made to honor the day when the French Army lost at the Battle of Puebla, which happened in Mexico on May 5, 1862. It also commemorates the experiences of the Mexican people who reside in the U.S.
Cinco de Mayo is most celebrated in cities like San Jose, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco, Phoenix, Sacramento, Albuquerque, El Paso and Denver. Over the years, the event has become overly commercialized that some businesses take advantage of it by giving promos and discounts. While it is not actually a federal holiday, it looks pretty much like it since all the festivities made in honor of this celebration usually cause traffic jams in town roads.
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The Battle of Puebla started in 1861, when Benito Juarez became the president of Mexico. As he took office, he sought to deal with the debts of the Mexican government by trying to negotiate with the governments of France, Britain and Spain. Of the three nations, only France did not submit to the deal that Juarez laid on the table. Instead, the country wanted to seize the Mexican land. This prompted Juarez to pull Mexican forces to fight for Mexico in the Battle of Puebla, which resulted in the loss of the French forces.
Since then, the Cinco de Mayo has been widely celebrated in Mexico. The unlikely victory of the Mexican forces at the time made the Battle of Puebla worth commemorating year after year through common traditions like parades depicting the remarkable battle.
