Cinco de Mayo Explained, for Americans

This post is directed at my American readers:
Many Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, infact, it might be a fair statement that more Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo than Mexicans. Do any of them know what they are celebrating? If you guessed Mexican indepenace, you're wrong. Don't feel bad, even many Mexicans don't know the origin of Cinco de Mayo and they certainly don't celebrate it. That is because it is a very regional holiday. The region: the city of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

So put down your Taco Bell and American "tacos" of ground beef flavored from a 50 cent packet from the grocery store, and pause your games of flip cup or beer pong with Corona to take time to read this post; so that you may actually toast the true heros of the day, before chugging another beer.

Remember for a second, the war of 1812: The United States was a young country, settled into its independance and busy becoming a great nation. The English, however, hadn't given up, they came back for more! We Yankees eventually kicked thier sorry red coats back to England, but not before they burned the White House and much of Washington D.C. to the ground.

Now, imagine that half way to Washington D.C., an out-numbered militia of poorly armed citizens defeated the "Red Coats" and effectively stopped the invasion of the young, independant country. Sounds great right? Well that is what happened on the 5th of May, 1862 just out side of Puebla, Mexico.

Mexico had already fought for independance from Spain and fought a civil war, leaving a fragile government, deeply indebted to France, Spain, and England. Napoleaon III, Emporor of France and grand son of Napoleon Bonapart decided to take action to secure France's interests. Apparently, the plan was to install a Frenchman as head of the Mexican government.

After landing in and conquering the port of Veracruz, the French started marching towards the capital, Mexico City. Between Veracruz and Mexico City, lies the city of Puebla. 4,500 poor civilians faced the 6,500 French troops and defeated them. Unfortuneatly, this did not end the invasion, but it weakened the French enough that the invasion eventually failed. The victory remains a cause for celebration in the city of Puebla, and unfortunaly, misunderstood by the rest of the world. 

This morning I awoke very early to find a good spot on the parade route. I was ultimately rewarded for my loss of sleep. President Calderon, the president of Mexico was in attendace and I was blessed with a brief glimpse as he arrived in his motorcade of black SUVs. (unfortunaly, I don't have a picture) The parade opened with a large and impressive display of every branch of the Mexican military, which was greeted with shouts of praise and cheers of "Vive Mexico!"

After the military, the parade disentegrated into an extremely long chain of public school marching bands, only interupted by ramdon floats promoting Pueblan culture.

And finally, the parade finished with a lot men and women on horses.