Cinco De Mayo

Guacamole and fajitas. Mexican flags and mariachi bands. Margaritas, beer – and more

beer, sometimes with lime. It’s May 5, and America is celebrating Cinco de Mayo – but

why? The Mexican holiday is still celebrated in Mexico, but the local tributes appear to

be unimportant when compared to the giant celebration in the United States, complete with

restaurant specials, high-volume advertising and endless promotion. The United States and

Mexico have had complex relations for a long time, and the situation got worse when Donald

Trump became the US President. But the two countries are united in one thing, and that’s the

celebration called Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for ‘fifth of May.’ It commemorates the victory of the Mexicans

over the French at the Battle of Puebla on

May 5th, 1862. The battle was part of the
French-Mexican war from 1861 to 1867. The Mexicans won the battle, but lost the war.
However, because the French had 2,000 moretroopsthan the Mexicans at Puebla, it was a
source of enormouspride for them– and still is today!

Four days after the battle, on May

9th, 1862, the President of Mexico, Benito Juárez, declared the anniversary of the battle a

national holiday.

California was Mexican territory untilthe 1840s and obviously many Mexicans were still

living there when it became part of the United States. They also started celebrating the

anniversary. Today, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday in the states of Puebla and Veracruz in

Mexico. And since the 1950s, it has been celebrated in many US cities.

Cinco de Mayo became really popular in the US in the 1980s.

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo continues to be a celebration of the anniversary of the Battle

of Puebla. But in the United States, it has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture

andheritage. There are hundreds of events around the country. Many of them have traditional

Mexican music, dancing and food. And many schools have special events to educate students

about the day’s historical significance. People sometimes confuse Cinco de Mayo with

Mexican Independence Day. But that’s another celebration, on September

16th.
Nowadays, there are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, and more than 40
per cent of them are from Mexico. In1994, the US government beganbuildingbarrierson
the 3,200-kilometer border between the two countries, to stop more Mexicans crossing
itillegally (and to stop the importation of drugs). Today, they have built barriers on about
930 kilometres of the border. PresidentDonald Trumpwants to build awallalong the entire
border, at a cost of up to $25 billion. He says thatMexico will pay for it, but the