cinco de mayo
Cinco De Mayo:
an Occasion to Celebrate and Ruminate
By Dorothy Smith
Love of one’s country is a splendid thing. But
adopted and adapted many events that
does not owe their origins to American
soil. Cinco de Mayo is one of them.
why should love stop at the border?
The Mexicans may associate their
- Pablo Casals
sense of patriotism with the day but if
you are not a Mexican, you can treat
the day as just an occasion of celebra-
P
atriotism is dying a tantalizing tors bravery. However, the people who tion and merrymaking. Cinco de Mayo
death in the hands of time. It is are celebrating would no lift a finger to celebrations are all about getting your-
not only where people are having replicate the ideals they are glorifying. self bathed in the colors of the Mexican
to compromise with the basic require- And that is a sad fact. flag – red, green and white. You can
ments of living. In countries where Cinco de Mayo is a festival of the wear a sombrero, the traditional Mexi-
people are provided with a comfortable Mexicans. It means ‘5th of May’ in can hat, and be out on the streets. You
standard of living, citizens rip off the English. The Mexican army won a can also down some tequila shots to
government, its policies and the consti- great victory over the French at the spice things up.
tution to shreds at the first opportunity. Battle of Puebla on 5th May, 1862.It is Occasions for merry-making cannot
Pseudo non-conformists yell the coun- not their Independence Day but they keep pace with the need of the modern
try down to anyone who has ears to lis- celebrate this day with gusto because it man to celebrate. Everyone wants to
ten. They do not know how to redress; is a victory their ancestors won over take a day off and do something that
they only know how to rant. the much-fancied and superior French does not translate into the language of
The patriotic celebrations which forces. Though the French took over profit or bottom lines. In a bid to gath-
have lingered on are more a festive Mexico a year later, it did not topple er as many reasons to celebrate as pos-
occasion than a patriotic one. Cinco de 5th May from the zenith of Mexican sible, people have blurred the lines of
Mayo, Fourth of July, and Memorial glory. culture and ethnicity. They have no
Day are events celebrated by the peo- You need not be a Mexican to cele- qualms in celebrating an occasion has
ple to recollect the days of our ances- brate Cinco de Mayo. Americans have not come down to them through the
pages of history or folk lore. Cinco de
Mayo is widely celebrated in the Unit-
ed States. There is no reason to have
any hang-ups about celebrating a patri-
otic occasion of another country as
long as you care as much for your own.
Someone rightly said, ‘A citizen of
America will cross the ocean to fight
for democracy, but won’t cross the
street to vote in a national election!”
HNM
Source:
articlesbase.com
Dorothy Smith is the author of this article wants to
send information about the events & special occasions.
Want to know more about Cinco de Mayo or Cinco de
Mayo Ecards. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo festival by
sending Cinco de Mayo Wishes and other free ecards.
12 Celebrating over 15 Years of Embracing Diversity WWW.HNMAGAZINE.COM
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