Cinco De Mayo

[amanda_lodden]

At lunch today, the woman behind us was rather loudly explaining to one of her companions (who was apparently from Turkey) that today was Cinco De Mayo, and explaining that it's Spanish for May 5th. She then explained that it's a "Spanish holiday" in which everyone "just drinks and drinks" because they like the number five so much, and it's the fifth day of the fifth month and all that.

....

[sarcasm] Yes, of course that's it. They have minor holidays on the 5th of every month, and it's a week-long alcohol-fest in the years that May 5th falls on the fifth day of the week.[/sarcasm]

I realize that we have the Ugly American standard to uphold and all, but is it so much to ask that we pay just a little bit of attention to the holidays of other nations if we decide to participate in the drinking with them? I'd have been perfectly okay with her tossing out anything at all pertaining to the Mexican Revolution, even though that was in September and not actually involved in Cinco De Mayo (5/5 commemorates a particular battle, and it's really only important in a particular state; Americans celebrate it more than Mexicans do).

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I'd always referred to it as a Mexican Saint Patrick's Day. From my limited vantage point it seems to serve much more as "American descendants of a culture get drunk and assure themselves that they're still totally a part of that culture, and other Americans get drunk and agree with them."

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

And I'm totally fine with that explanation, though the Irish actually do celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Also, if they're asked what the holiday is about, most Americans, even the non-Irish ones, can recite some bit about the snakes.

Because really, most holidays around the world involve getting drunk and assuring yourself that you're still totally part of something. 4th of July = assuring yourself that you're still totally patriotic even if you spend the other 364 days dissing your culture. Thanksgiving = assuring yourself that you're still totally part of your family even if they're all idiots. Christmas = assuring yourself that you're still totally filled with holiday spirit even though you hate all the crass commericialism but still bought your kid the Hot New Toy of the Year.

[estarsign.livejournal.com]

I celebrated it with my kids at school, mostly in a festive way since they are 5 and special ed and not likely to get the relevance of the date. I didn't know how to do the Mexican hat dance so we totally made stuff up which was pretty hilarious. Not that this is at all relevant, but I sure was entertained.