"Cinco de Mayo" is not Mexico's July 4th!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated “Cinco de Mayo” in Dallas and elsewhere.

So what’s the big deal about “Cinco de Mayo”?
Allan Wall has a good summary for those of us who are not Mexican or studied Mexican history in school:

“Cinco de Mayo, literally “May the 5th,” is the holiday celebrating the Mexican victory over the French army on May the 5th, 1862, at Puebla, east of Mexico City.”

In the US, specially in the Southwest, “Cinco de Mayo” has turned into a Mexican version of St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, Columbus Day in New York or Polish Day in Chicago.

“Cinco de Mayo” is a Mexican-American celebration.  Every year, our parades have gotten bigger and bigger.      As Mr. Wall writes, “Cinco de Mayo” is a very good day for local retail merchants:

“Cinco de Mayo is also a big beer-drinking day, with Mexican beer brands doing 5-10 percent of their U.S. sales for the occasion.”

I don’t like beer so I guess I’ll stay home and watch the Rangers play Toronto.   During the game, I’ll remember that “Cinco de Mayo” is not Mexico’s July 4th!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.