A Brief History of Cinco de Mayo
By Sara Norton
My first job out of college was as a promotions team member of a local radio station. My fellow newly-minted college graduate colleagues and I would cram the station’s box truck full of swag and show up at various festivities around the valley.
Grand opening of a new Port of Subs in Phoenix?
Arizona Bike Week?
Motley Crüe’s farewell tour?
You name it, we were there. One of my last outings as a professional hype-girl was “celebrating” Cinco de Mayo at a Tempe bar. My team prepared for our journey as we had countless times before, only this time Corona-branded sunnies and swag were alongside our station’s swag.
We reached our destination, set up, and got the party in full swing. After taking in the colorful surroundings of inflatable pool toy tacos and sombreros, I thought to myself, What exactly is Cinco de Mayo celebrating?
I asked my coworker if they knew and got a muffled response of “Mmm-fff-exican… indepene-fff-ce… day?” through bites of chips and salsa. Hm, that didn’t seem quite right! Mexican Independence Day falls on September 16. I decided to do a Google deep dive right then and there in the middle of the bar to see what this day was actually all about, and this is what I learned.
Cinco de Mayo (also known as Battle of Puebla Day) marks the day the Mexican army defeated the French army at the Battle of Puebla in the midst of the Franco-Mexican war. Conflict between Mexico and France arose in 1861 after Mexican President Benito Juárez suspended the nation’s foreign debt payments. Napoleon III responded by sending French troops to invade.
Juárez assembled a ragtag group of some 2,000 soldiers (many of whom were Indigenous Mexicans) to fend off the much larger and better equipped French army of 6,000 men led by General Charles Latrille de Lorencez. The battle took place in the early morning hours on May 5, 1862 at Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico, and only lasted about a day. After they retreated, the French army lost between 500 and 700 soldiers while fewer than 100 Mexican fighters died in the skirmish.
Although the battle was small in size and not a major strategic victory in the war with the French, the battle of Puebla became symbolic to the Mexican government and people and bolstered the resistance movement.
So, there you have it! A piece of Mexican history and a better understanding of this important day in our southern neighbor’s history. Itching for more? Check out this episode of the history podcast Not Past It hosted by Simone Polanen.
References:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2zIHRHBAvGbV8eROHpwKLh?si=vuD91zw0RZKaxtbYh96YEw
