Why is Cinco De Mayo more popular in the U.S. than in Mexico?
El Paso, Texas — It's Cinco De Mayo across the Borderland and a lot more people will be able to celebrate the holiday because it'll be the first time in 3 years that the COVID-19 Pandemic won't put a limit on the celebrations.
On May 5th, 1862, an outnumbered Mexican Army, under the leadership of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza defeated French forces in the Battle of Puebla.
For Mexico, it was like the biblical battle of David and Goliath.
While Mexico's President at the time, Benito Juarez, declared Cinco De Mayo a national holiday, Mexico's Independence Day, Sept. 16th, remains a much more important holiday south of the border.
UCLA researchers say Cinco De Mayo's popularity in the U.S. began in California during our own civil war in the 1860s as a response to the resistance against continued European efforts to colonize Latin America.
It also tied in with support of the Union in the U.S. Civil War.
It then became an important symbol to the Chicano movement which began in California in the 1940s and eventually spread across the country.
Finally, Cinco De Mayo became a party holiday in the U.S. starting in the 1970s and '80s when beer companies began marketing to our nation's growing Latino and Spanish-speaking population.
While Cinco De Mayo is not an official national holiday in Mexico, all of the country's public schools do close on May 5th and there are a variety of commemorations marking Mexico's victory in the Battle of Puebla.