Cinco De Mayo

[aplusmnt]

I wonder how many other countries celebrate and observe July 4th our Independence Day?

Like we do here for Cinco De Mayo.

Today Americans participate in activities organized for "Cinco de Mayo." In Los Angeles, the celebration takes place in the streets outside City Hall where Mexican orchestras and local bands play Mexican patriotic songs. The streets are colored in red, white and green - the colors of the Mexican flag. Young boys are proud to be seen in Mexican clothing and girls wear red and green ruffled dresses with wide skirts. Famous musicians play popular and familiar tunes on their guitars while dancers spin around and click their castanets.

A temporary stage at the steps of City Hall is decorated with a picture of General Zaragoza, flanked by Mexican and American flags. Mexican dignitaries are guests of honor, pleased to hear the mayor of Los Angeles making a speech in Spanish. Later, celebrants stroll through the streets to the old section of the city. Others go to city parks where sports events, dances and picnics featuring Mexican food are taking place.


http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays ... ncode.html

 

[Bullbuyer]

I think it's just a marketing ploy for all these restaurants to sell Mexican food at inflated prices one day a year.

 

[badaxemoo]

I wonder how many other countries celebrate and observe July 4th our Independence Day?

Probably the same number of countries that have significant, permanent immigrant communities made up of people from the United States.

I can't think of too many off the top of my head.

 

[chrisy]

I wonder how many other countries celebrate and observe July 4th our Independence Day?

Probably the same number of countries that have significant, permanent immigrant communities made up of people from the United States.

I can't think of too many off the top of my head.

try England we have many festivals, here held by the diverse nations that now live here. We even have a celebration on 4th July for the Americans that live here.

while in Germany they were holding a festival for the Italians. In Malta they hold Turkish festivals. In Denmark there was a Belgium beer festival it goes on all around the world. a bit like a Mardi Gras.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Well, if I were a drinking man, I'd be getting in on all the Magerita specials.

The last time I had really good tasting Mexican food I got bad food and it kicked my butt. I hadn't had the appetite for it since. Occasionally I still slip in on a bit of Tex-Mex tho.

Hey, I wear green on St. Patrick's day. No big deal. Its too bad we can't have some type of celebration every day of the year.

 

[Rookie]

I wonder how many other countries celebrate and observe July 4th our Independence Day?

Like we do here for Cinco De Mayo.

Maybe you celebrate it, I got no use for it myself

 

[Crowderfarms]

Sinko de mayo, Translated means you protest, pack your bags.

 

[ranchwife]

Sinko de mayo, Translated means you protest, pack your bags.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Euzkadi]

Actually, they aren't celebrating Mexican Independence, but the victory against the French army. It isn't a big thing in Mexico. It's just another excuse to get drunk in the USA. :lol:

Mexico's Independence day is September 16th, by the way.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Again learn your history as it actually does have a lot to do with us, had it not been for the battle on May 5th the Civil War could have drug on a lot longer.

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.
It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

 

[aplusmnt]

Again learn your history as it actually does have a lot to do with us, had it not been for the battle on May 5th the Civil War could have drug on a lot longer.

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.
It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

Interesting piece of history! Sounds like the butt kicking the Mexicans gave the french was the start of the French's loosing streak that continues even today