ChiefsPlanet - happy early cinco de mayo

'Cinco de Mayo' _ plenty of beer, little history

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Here's what Cinco de Mayo has become in the
U.S.: a celebration of all things Mexican, from mariachi music to
sombreros, marked by schools, politicians and companies selling
everything from beans to beer.

And here's what Cinco de Mayo is not, despite all the signs in bar
windows inviting revelers to drink: It's not Mexico's Independence
Day, and it's barely marked in Mexico, except in the state of Puebla,
where the holiday is rooted in a complicated and short-lived 1862
military victory over the French.

But don't let that spoil the party.

In Houston, ballet folklorico dancers will ring in Cinco de Mayo by
stomping to traditional Mexican music in a city park. New York City
will close parts of Spanish Harlem and Queens for street fairs as
Mexican flags flap from apartment fire escapes and car antennas.
Albuquerque honors the day with a Mariachi concert and free cab rides
for those who show their love for Mexico with a little too much Dos
Equis XX or tequila. Even West Des Moines, Iowa, has an all-day
festival with Mexican food, artwork and live music.

The holiday has spread from the American Southwest, even though most
are unaware of its original ties to the U.S. Civil War, abolition and
promotion of civil rights for blacks.

Often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day (that's Sept. 16), Cinco
de Mayo commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla between the victorious
ragtag army of largely Mexican Indian soldiers against the invading
French forces of Napoleon III. Mexican Americans, during the Chicano
Movement of the 1970s, adopted the holiday for its David vs. Goliath
storyline as motivation for civil rights struggles in Texas and
California.

Over the years, the holiday has been adopted by beer companies as a
way to penetrate the growing Latino market, even as the historical
origins of the holiday remain largely forgotten.

David Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine and health services at
UCLA and author of the newly released "El Cinco de Mayo: An American
Tradition," said the holiday's history in the U.S. goes back to the
Gold Rush when thousands of immigrants from Mexico, Central and South
America came to California during the Civil War.

According to Spanish-language newspapers at the time, this first group
of multinational Latinos on U.S. soil identified with the Union Army's
fight against the Confederacy and often wrote pieces about the evils
of slavery. Hayes-Bautista said these Latino immigrants were concerned
about the Union's lack of progress and Napoleon III's interests in
helping the South.

"It wasn't until the news came about the Battle of Puebla that they
got the good news they wanted," said Hayes-Bautista. "Since Napoleon
III was linked to the Confederacy, they saw the victory as the first
sign that their side could win."

They didn't, of course, at least not for a few years. French forces
took over Mexico after the Battle of Puebla, and installed Habsburg
Archduke Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico. He was captured by Mexican
forces five years later and put to death.

But in the years that followed, Latinos in California and the U.S.
Northwest celebrated Cinco de Mayo with parades of people dressed in
Civil War uniforms and gave speeches about the significance of the
Battle of Puebla in the larger struggle for abolition, said
Hayes-Bautista.

The Cinco de Mayo-Civil War link remained until the Mexican
Revolution, which sparked another wave of Mexican immigration to the
U.S. Those immigrants had no connection to Cinco de Mayo - except that
U.S. Latinos celebrated it.

"That's when it became about David vs. Goliath, Indians beating a
European force, and it took on a new meaning," said Hayes-Bautista.
"The Civil War ties disappeared."

The date received another jolt during World War II during the U.S.
government's "Good Neighborhood Policy" aimed at building good
relationships with Mexico and during the Chicano Movement, when
Mexican American activists adopted the day to reinforce civil rights
demands. Two police beatings of Cinco de Mayo revelers - one in
Houston in 1978 and the other in Washington DC in 1991 - resulted in
riots and sparked protests and calls for reforms from Latino
advocates.

The holiday spread outside of the American Southwest as more Latinos
moved to new areas around the country. Alyssa Gutierrez, 35, a teacher
who is originally from Robstown, Texas but now lives in New York's
Harlem neighborhood, said Cinco de Mayo was barely noticed when she
moved to New York in 1998. "Now there are Mexican restaurants on
almost every block and all do something on Cinco de Mayo, usually
around a boxing match," said Gutierrez.

Jody Agius Vallejo, a sociology professor at the University of
Southern California and author of "Barrios to Burbs: The Making of the
Mexican-American Middle Class," said Cinco de Mayo is now used by
assimilated Mexican Americans as an easy way for them to showcase
their ethnic identity.

"It's very similar to how Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick's
Day," said Vallejo. "One way they can honor their ethnicity is to
celebrate this day, even when most don't know why."

But not all buy in. "To others," she added, "this holiday is kind of
viewed as a joke because they feel it's their culture that is being
appropriated and exploited."

Hayes-Bautista said because the theme and focus around Cinco de Mayo
has transformed a number of times, it won't be surprising if it
changes again.

"No one has owned Cinco de Mayo," said Hayes-Bautista. "And no one ever will."