Cinco Things You’re Wrong About

A holiday history lesson with bite (and salsa), courtesy of Tim Bartz

(Intro by Vanessa)
MiMConnect is about memory—but not just the parts we lose.
It’s also about the moments we keep showing up, surprising ourselves, and yes—setting the record straight about things like tequila, tacos, and the Battle of Puebla.

This was written by Tim on Cinco de Mayo. It’s not about Alzheimer’s. It’s about clarity, cleverness, and connection. And that counts, too.

—Vanessa
(Not Mexican. Still celebrated.)

---

Five Things You Think You Know About Cinco de Mayo
That Are WRONG!
By Tim Bartz

We’re going out for dinner tonight—to a Mexican restaurant no less, and on the Hispanic celebration day of Cinco de Mayo. Millions of Americans, Hispanic or not, will go out to flirt with the after-effects of a morning-after tequila.

But what do we REALLY know about this holiday?

For starters, it ain’t Mexican Independence Day—which is on September 16.

Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates the Mexican army's victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
(Thanks to the French, the world’s go-to nation when some other country needs a victory to prop up military morale.)
The holiday celebrates only the battle—saving an independence day celebration for later in the year when France actually capitulated.

Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. gained prominence in the late 19th century, starting with the first recorded celebration in 1863 in California. It gained its twentieth-century prominence during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a symbol of Mexican-American identity and a vehicle for community building.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more widely in the United States than in Mexico. While it's a recognized holiday in Mexico, particularly in the state of Puebla, it's not a national holiday and doesn't receive the same widespread attention as in the U.S.

It also proves that bipartisan politics can actually generate good policy for all—as long as the end result is good food, music, parades, and a good reason to party.

I don’t drink tequila anymore, but I do enjoy the amazing 0-proof beers that are out there now.
Tonight seemed like the perfect excuse to try Corona 0. Salud.

I’m not counting, but I’m pretty sure that’s five things most of us didn’t know about the holiday.

Oh, excuse me.
That would be Cinco.