Cinco De Mayo Essay

625 Words2 Pages

I am writing this paper for the purpose of helping the reader understand more about an integral part of Mexican history. Cinco de Mayo means different things for many different people. It is celebrated differently around Mexico and in the United States. Cinco de Mayo literally translates as “the fifth of May”. It should never be disordered as Mexico’s independence day, but it is associated with the July 4th one would celebrate in the U.S. To truly understand more about Cinco de Mayo, one must first understand the history of Mexico’s Independence Day. In 1861, Mexico was a country struggling with financial ruin and poverty. Mexico had dues to the countries of Britain, Spain, and France. The leader of Mexico at the time, Mexican Benito Juárez, was forced to back out on these liabilities; of course, Britain, Spain, and France were not going to settle without collecting their dues. While Britain and Spain were able to work out their problems with Mexico, France was not, and this would create problems for the impoverished, indebted country of Mexico if the French were to gain control …show more content…

Most Mexican do not consider Cinco de Mayo to be an important holiday because, while schools do get out, most banks and other businesses do not close on Cinco de Mayo. If a tourist wanted to see a full-fledged Cinco de Mayo celebration, their best bet would be to look in the city of Puebla, Mexico—the city where the Battle of Puebla was won by the Mexican forces so many years ago. The celebration includes a huge parade (with approximately twenty thousand participants), fairs, and many alcoholic parties. Each year the event in Puebla expects nearly one million visitors. Many say that the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Puebla resemble a fair. Puebla is one of the only places in Mexico that Cinco de Mayo is actually

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