Cinco de Mayo, which is obviously “fifth of May” in Spanish, is an annual celebration of the date which saw the Mexican army defeat the French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It’s not, as many people wrongly think, in honor of Mexican Independence Day.
Cinco de Mayo has grown out of Mexico and is now celebrated in other countries too, most notably the United States of course, which has a fair-sized Mexican population. It’s kind of like St. Patrick’s Day where you don’t have to know what you’re actually celebrating but you’re meant to have fun regardless.
For those who do want to know what they are commemorating tonight by eating Mexican food, drinking Mexican beer, and hitting a piñata, this video clearly explains the origins of the celebration.
Personally, I hadn’t even heard of it until last year when I saw much talk about it on Twitter. Now that I do know, I’ll be eating chicken fajitas and nachos – any excuse to eat spicy hot, fatty foods.
