Every year I look forward to celebrating Cinco de Mayo and all its delicious traditions and festivities with fun, celebration and delicious Mexican-themed food! It is truly an event not to be missed!
So what exactly is Cinco de Mayo? Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo (May 5 in Spanish) isn’t really celebrated much in Mexico compared to its American counterpart of September 16th; rather it commemorates Mexico’s unlikely victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Mexico had fallen into debt to France at this point. Napoleon III’s France decided to use Mexico’s financial weakness as an opportunity for them to establish an empire within Mexico – later known as The Second Mexican Empire.
According to UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, Cinco de Mayo originated when Mexican miners in California learned of Mexico’s victory against France at Puebla Battle and celebrated by firing off rifle shots, fireworks, singing patriotic songs and giving spontaneous speeches in celebration.
Author David Hayes-Bautista writes, “Cinco de Mayo was first celebrated in America by Latinos proudly wearing both U.S. and Mexican flags in support of both their Union values as well as Mexico’s victory against France who sought to undermine them.”
Thus was born Cinco de Mayo.
Why Is Cinco de Mayo Important? Historian Justo Sierra suggested in “Political Evolution of the Mexican People” that had Mexico not defeated France on May 5, 1862, France would likely have given aid to Confederates during U.S. Civil War – likely changing America’s course and history forever. Without Mexico’s victory on this date, France likely would have gone on to support Confederates instead – possibly altering today’s story considerably.
Since Mexico’s triumph at Puebla, no other European military forces have invaded any American country.
How Will We Celebrate Cinco de Mayo? For Cinco de Mayo this year we plan on inviting some family and friends over to help celebrate Mexico and its culture. I enjoy decorating my house in bright Mexican colors while playing Mexican music can put everyone into an extremely festive mood – Pandora has an awesome Mexico radio station offering all types of artists and musical genres! Plus of course we’ll be serving up lots of delectable Mexican-inspired food to enjoy on our fiesta.
Food always plays an integral part in any celebration and Mexican cuisine is one of my favorites – it brings people together like no other food can! From its fresh cilantro flavors and spicy kick, to all that cheese… what could possibly go wrong?!?!
As part of my Cinco de Mayo celebration and Mexican-American tradition, I decided to make these Mini Chicken & Poblano Enchilada Boats. For this recipe, we headed over to Walmart where Old El Paso Taco Boats could serve as shells.