Comments | nontacitare: cinco de mayo

nontacitare

cinco de mayo

May 05, 2009 17:11

A challenge - Why is Cinco de Mayo important? Why is it celebrated in the US?

Answer without googling, please. I'll trust you to be honorable. :-)

holiday, mexico

Comments 10

wishesofastar May 5 2009, 21:36:13 UTC

Why is it celebrated in the US?

As an excuse for gringos to drink Corona? :)

Actually, I believe it's Mexican Independence Day (but I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know for sure).

wishesofastar May 5 2009, 22:24:03 UTC

Aaand of course a quick Google reveals the truth.

ns_kumiho May 6 2009, 00:13:15 UTC

It's when the French were expelled from Mexico with the help of the US (following the American Civil War) after France took over a weakened Mexico and installed a puppet emperor in the form of Maximilian (I want to add III for some reason) to rule the new 'Empire of Mexico'.

ns_kumiho May 6 2009, 00:20:21 UTC

A quick google shows I'm mostly right I'm guessing Napoleon III is where I got the III from.

/Looked up the history of the holiday a few years ago.

braider May 6 2009, 01:52:50 UTC

Mexico's independence from Spain; celebrated in the US for the same reason St. Patrick's Day is: ethnic pride.

tesinth May 6 2009, 02:19:36 UTC

Like St. Patrick's day, used just as an excuse to get drunk.

chronarchy May 6 2009, 15:55:31 UTC

Something about a victory over the French. What do you know: another country that celebrates France surrendering!

nontacitare May 7 2009, 03:44:05 UTC

You do realize that while the Mexicans won the first battle in Puebla, the French actually won that war, right?

chronarchy May 8 2009, 18:19:21 UTC

Heh, nope. No idea on that one. It's a war well after my own area of focus for my degree in military history: the ancient Mediterranean world. :)

(Curiously, many hobbyists can make me feel downright dumb about modern battles and the post-gunpowder world: I wasn't overly interested in the two or three classes I took that focused on the post 1670 world, and most of them were on specific wars like Vietnam, the Civil War, and Korea. . . You should hear me rant about how Gettysburg wasn't actually the turning point of the Civil War sometime.)

nontacitare May 8 2009, 23:44:39 UTC

Curiously, many hobbyists can make me feel downright dumb about modern battles and the post-gunpowder world:

Sorry; you're not dumb. I was just making fun of you for making fun of the French. ;-) Few Americans even know what Cinco de Mayo commemorates, so you're in good company.