By our last count, the Greater Grand Rapids area has more than 20 published Cinco De Mayo parties on deck for this weekend. It is beyond a shadow of doubt the most anticipated party this side of the summer of 2018.
And while it is easy to look at this annual event as a nice way to fill the void between the St. Patty’s Day and July Fourth parties, it is worth considering a few ground rules in order to avoid offending the true meaning of this Mexican holiday.
While the holiday is considered a minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States we tend to really leverage this holiday as a free pass to sip tequilas and down our cervezas.
But the real roots of
Cinco de Mayo (the fifth of May) is a day when our neighbors south of the border celebrate the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla.
And while the French experienced devastating losses on this day-long battle, the Mexican Army lost fewer than 100 soldiers. It was a huge morale boost for the people of Mexico winning against such odds.
The closest we in the U.S. can get to this level of victory probably reaches back to one of our own against-all-odds skirmishes with the British during our independence, except we just never got creative enough to a hosting a commemorative holiday quite like they do in Mexico.
In the U.S., we started to see celebrations of Cinco De Mayo emerge in our cities via Chicano activists in the 1960s. They used this holiday as a way to assert their heritage as well as to celebrate their cultural pride within their community.
And the rest you could say spread like wildfire through our American culture, as eventually bars and restaurants began to host commemorative events…but often with harmful unintended consequences that still plague many events to this day.
Yes, we know that area bars and restaurants will seek to capitalize on this holiday with drink and dining specials (and why not, spring is ushering in warmer weather that is making all of us giddy for fun). But it is worth noting that while it is ok to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, just don’t go overboard and run the risk of offending our Mexican-American citizens by launching harmful stereotypes that all too often plague this festival.
The easiest rule of thumb is that if you see colorful sombreros or even large fake mustaches, it is best to leave these cultural items to those of the culture from which they originate.
Sure, we may have donned hats in good harmless fun in the past. But if we have learned anything in our present as we seek to build bridges in our society to the many groups who make up America, in being a good and respectful community member, it is best that we conduct ourselves in a non-stereotyping manner when celebrating Cinco De Mayo. It should not be an opportunity to play dress up, but a chance to collectively have fun by honoring this annual holiday.
I'd hate for folks in other nations start to spin our Fourth of July parties complete with processed meat in a bun and a lot of loud t-shirts. So Rapid Growth says have fun this Cinco De Mayo…just pass on the sombreros, offending accents, and fake mustaches —unless of course you are Mexican.