In Defense of Cinco de Mayo
If you are Mexican like me, you know we don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo like they do here in the United States. Seeing all the sombreros and tequila sales around town is kind of cringe. Just today, in Zumba class, some ladies wore tiny plastic hats strapped around their heads. A couple of them were wearing big ones — a mariachi one and the other one, a stereotypical sombrero people think we wear in Mexico. Even the instructor shouted, Happy Cinco de Mayo a couple of times and let out some “ay ay ay.” Yikes.
I honestly don’t pay much attention to the holiday, even if I’ve lived here for around 16 years. I have accepted that in the United States, they like to commercialize and celebrate everything — even if they have no idea what they are celebrating — –because, ladies and gentlemen, Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Independence. Something similar happens with St. Patrick’s Day. And I must confess that I have fallen into the commercialization of the Irish holiday. I have worn green on March 17th. I have bought green beer and Guinness. I dream of going to Chicago and seeing the river dyed green.
We are in a country where the day before this, they celebrate Star Wars! This is because the day’s name sounds similar to a phrase they say in the movies: “May 4th be with you.”
So, yeah. Does it bother me that they call it Cinco de Drinko? Of course, it does. But, as we say in Spanish, no le pido peras al olmo.
The first time I heard Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in the United States, I didn’t understand what was happening. This co-worker, let’s call her Rory, asked me what I was doing; the conversation went something like this:
-What are you doing this weekend for Cinco de Mayo?
-I’m going home to visit my parents in Mexico.
-OHMYGOD, you’re so lucky.
-Internal thought: I try to go every month. But okay.
-I can’t imagine the parties over there! OMG. HAVE FUN!
I left the conversation puzzled. I thought my lack of vocabulary and the scarcity of my English prevented me from understanding what she meant.
I comprehended her cheerfulness next year when Cinco de Mayo was on a weekday, so I was in town in the States. All the decorations, promotions, and the calling of Cinco de Drinko left me perplexed.
What is happening? Why?
Sure, Cinco de Mayo is a day when the Battle of Puebla happened in Mexico. Normally, it is only celebrated in Puebla (one single state) with parades and reenactments. Where I am from, in Sonora, we don’t really acknowledge its popularity.
Over the years, I have gone along with it: “When in Rome, right?” Have I occasionally sipped a margarita on Cinco de Mayo? Yes. Have I eaten tacos that day? Yes, but basically, because I eat tacos every day.
Still, watching people outside of our culture wear sombreros and fake mustaches was not okay.
It took me a few years to comprehend why the United States was so obsessed with this day. First, I learned that beer importers commercialized it in the 1980s. Also, back in 1862, when the Battle of Puebla happened, the French army that was defeated by a smaller, less-equipped Mexican army was supposed to help the South win the United States Civil War. So, there it is, the intersection where things can make sense.
Some Chicano activists have used the day as a source of pride, and some Mexican-American communities take this moment to celebrate. Just this week, someone from Honduras asked how I was going to celebrate. He told me he gathered with other Latinos for a carne asada, which I think is cool.
This week, a journalist student from the Diamondback, the university newspaper, interviewed me about the holiday. This interview brought back these memories and thoughts shared today in this piece.
So, there you have it. I don’t hate Cinco de Mayo, but I still think it is cringeworthy. I don’t celebrate it either. I don’t think about it too much.
Should you, reader, celebrate it? Who am I to judge when I buy green donuts and wear green underwear on St. Patrick’s Day? Go ahead and drink your margaritas with a Corona beer dipped upside down and eat your tacos, but hopefully, you can acknowledge what this holiday means to us.
Don’t(s): call it Cinco the Drinko, and wear sombreros, ponchos, or fake mustaches (if you already have a mustache, you are okay). Don’t confuse it with the Mexican Independence Day (September 16th). Ask other Mexicans to educate you.
Do(s): Buy all the Mexican avocados and help the Mexican and Latine-owned establishments. Go for it!
