May 5th – Cinco de Mayo (The Fifth of May) or The Battle of Puebla

Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May) is a civic, not Mexican federal statutory holiday.  Consequently, on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) the Mexican flag is flown at full staff.  For reasons explained below, Cinco de Mayo is far more of an American holiday than it is a Mexican holiday.

Cinco de Mayo is a regional holiday in the Mexican state of Puebla with a large celebration held in the state capital, which is the City of Puebla.  Although it is widely celebrated in the United States, especially in cities having a large Mexican-American populatio, Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in any significant way in other parts of the Mexico.  Thus outside the State of Puebla Mexican employees do not receive a day off (with or without pay) and banks, businesses, schools, government offices are open as usual.

Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May) is not, as many people think, Mexico’s Independence Day.  Nor is the Día de la Revolucíon (Revolution Day) celebrated on November 20th Mexico’s Independence Day.  

In Mexico the November 20th holiday celebrates the Mexico Revolution that began in 1910, which resulted in the overthrow of the rule of Porfirio Díaz from 1876 to 1911 and the apportion of Mexico’s current constitution on February 5, 1917, marking the beginning of modern Mexico and leading to the formation of PRI party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional in English the Institutional Revolutionary Party) which was formed at the end of over a decade of sporadic outbreaks of civil unrest that followed the adoption of the 1917 Mexican constitution.

Mexico’s Independence Day is September 16th.  El Grito, the famous Cry of Independence, which began Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain is repeated by the president of Mexico in a national ceremony each year at 11 pm on September 15th with Mexican independence celebrations lasting two days.

Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May) commemorates the victory of the outnumbered Mexican forces over the French army at The Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.  The number of French reported killed ranged from 476 to 1,000, although many of the troops were already ill from their stay in the coastal lowlands.  Mexican losses were reported to be eighty-six.

Igacio Zaragoaa, who led the Mexican forces at the Battle of Puebla, was born in Texas when it was part of Mexico.  Thus the day has always been popular in Texas among Mexican-Americans.  It's popularity spread to other parts of the US in the 1960s as part of the Chicano movement, but it is a date most Mexicans do not celebrate--and may not even be awarr of its significance.  (In Tijuana the correct name for 9th Street is Ignacio Zaragoza.)