A battle, not independence
Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May, and it remembers a battle, not independence. MEXICO won its independence from Spain after a war that began on 16 September 1810, and that is the country's national day. In the 1860s, Mexico was deep in debt after years of war, and it stopped paying the countries it owed. France, ruled by the emperor Napoleon the Third, sent an army to take over.
On 5 May 1862, a smaller, poorly equipped Mexican force led by General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French army outside the city of PUEBLA. The French were one of the strongest armies in the world, so the victory became a huge source of pride.
The fighting took place on a rainy afternoon around two forts on the hills above the city, and the French cavalry struggled on the muddy slopes. Zaragoza himself had been born in 1829 in what is now Texas, then part of Mexico, and he died of typhoid only a few months after the battle. The city was renamed Puebla de Zaragoza in his honour. One of his young officers that day, Porfirio Díaz, later became president of Mexico and ruled for more than thirty years.
The French came back
The victory did not end the war. The French returned with a much bigger army, captured Mexico City in 1863 and made an Austrian archduke, Maximilian, emperor of Mexico. Mexican forces fought on under President Benito Juárez, and after the United States put pressure on France, the French troops left. Maximilian was captured and executed in 1867. The battle of Puebla stayed a symbol of the country standing up to a powerful invader.
Bigger in America than in Mexico
In most of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a fairly quiet day. It is celebrated most in the state of Puebla, where there are re-enactments of the battle and a big PARADE, and the city is also proud of its painted Talavera pottery, but it is not a day off for most workers. In the United States it became a much bigger celebration of MEXICAN HERITAGE and CULTURE. Historians have found that Mexicans living in California were already holding celebrations in 1863, cheering news of the victory while the American Civil War raged, and it grew into a FESTIVAL with FOLK DANCING, MUSIC and food. In 2005 the United States Congress passed a resolution asking the president to mark the day every year.
Our Mexican food page covers the TACOS, SALSA, GUACAMOLE and AVOCADO dishes on the table, and our North American countries page covers Mexico itself.
Mariachi and maracas
MARIACHI bands, with violins, trumpets and guitars and singers in silver-studded charro suits and wide hats, began in the western state of Jalisco, and in 2011 mariachi was added to the United Nations list of the world's cultural heritage. The SOMBRERO takes its name from sombra, the Spanish word for shade. MARACAS are rattles traditionally made from dried gourds filled with seeds or pebbles. A PINATA, a CACTUS, the red, white and green FLAG and a bowl of CHILI join the FIESTA.