HISTORY OF THE CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION: A LEGACY OF RESISTANCE & PRIDE
LOS ANGELES, CA - To say that the annual Cinco De Mayo celebration is misunderstood is an understatement. To put it mildly, it's probably the most misunderstood of all U.S. cultural events. While most people now already know that Cinco De Mayo (CDM) isn't Mexican Independence Day; many are still under the impression that this annual celebration started in Mexico. This couldn't be further from the truth. At the time of the first Cinco De Mayo celebration, Mexico was quite literally occupied in the middle of a war with imperial France. Like a bevy of other things which first appeared in the Mexican American community of the United States and are often believed to be Mexican (i.e., burritos, chile con carne, fajitas, flour tortillas, lowriders, nachos, skull face painting, etc., etc.) the CDM celebration is no exception.
The exact origin of the Cinco De Mayo celebration can be traced to Mexican metal miners known as Californios. These were the people of Mexican descent born in California prior to its annexation by the Uniuted States in 1848. As digruntled, newly forced citizens of the United States who were often disrespected and severly mistreated by the new ruling class of white Americans who suddenly flooded and dominated the environment of a booming West Coast, it isn't surprising to understand that most Californios didn't have particular feelings of fondness for most newly arrived European Americans. This was especially true in the early years following California's Gold Rush. In essence, this first generation of newly minted Mexican Americans felt much more akin with their Mexican families and other relations still living across a newly made border with Mexico over U.S. society. This was the mood of the times in 1862.
Cinco De Mayo: A U.S. Born Celebration of Mexican Heritage & Resistance Against the Forces of Oppression
The Battle of Puebla, which all Cinco De Mayo events are supposed to commemorate, was fought on May 5th, 1862. The first Cinco De Mayo celebration of Mexico's victory in this battle against the French ( European ) imperialists occurred exactly 20 days later in Columbia, CA on May 25th. In contrast, it would be more than 50 years later when Mexico saw it's first parade in celebration of this May 5th battle in Pueblo where the fighting occurred. To this day, there are no national events in celebration of the Battle of Puebla in all of Mexico. The Cinco De May celebration of this specific victory against the French Empire is still confined to only the local region of Puebla in all of Mexico alone.
California's Mexican Metal Miners Have the 1st Cinco De Mayo Party
California's Mexican communities, that is, its Mexican nationals who reside in the United States as foreign born immigrants; and its Mexican Americans (a.k.a. Chicanos) who are native born U.S. citizens are together known for many things. An example on some of these things would be: the abundance of great agriculture being harvested by Mexican farmworkers in our state, the Farmworkers Movement and "La Huelga" of Cesar Chavez; lowrider cars, Lowrider Magazine, and much of the art and culture that stemmed from its community amongst other things. What is not so commonly knows is that California's Mexican descent miner Cinco De Mayo was started by Mexican decent individuals working in the mines of Northern California.
