Friday, May 05, 2006

Mia explains: El Cinco de Mayo...


Today is a holiday el Cinco de Mayo so for those who regularly read this blog you know what that means it’s a “Mia explains the holiday” post. First off the bat Cinco de Mayo is becoming big in this country kind of like St. Patrick’s Day in that even the non-Irish celebrate it. However a lot of non-Mexicans celebrating it don’t really know what it’s about. So in my attempt to bring about world peace while sipping on a ice cold corona I present to you the following as explained to me by a former Chicano boy friend of mine. Yeah man Mia has a weakness of the vatos trust me you’d get a lil weak in the knees too if you were serenaded…

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, I repeat NOT MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY. That day is on September 15th that’s when Mexico declared it’s independence from the mother land (Spain) in 1810. You’re probably asking yourself so, why Cinco de Mayo? Look anytime you’ve got an army of 4,000 Mexicans kicking an army of made up of 8,000 traitors and French solider it is time for a celebration and that’s what happened on May 5, 1862.

The Spanish, English, and French had landed in Mexico five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas. Under the Emperor Napoleon who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought Hapsburg Prince Maximilian and his wife Carolota with the intent of having them rule the new Mexican empire. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west; they assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy.
The Mexican army was under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, and the cavalry under Colonel Porfirio Diaz. General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, out to the French flanks. The French then sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to kick their frog leg eating asses. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes. When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory and that's what Cinco de Mayo is all about.

Here’s some music to help celebrate el Cinco de Mayo…it’s my parents wedding song.. Si Nos Dejan…

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