Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Cinco de Mayo

Starting point is 00:00:00 Every year, Mexico and Mexican culture is celebrated during the holiday of Cinco de Mayo, which in Spanish just means May 5th. However, many people, especially those outside of Mexico, have no idea exactly what is being celebrated on May 5th, and many of those who think they know have the wrong idea. The location of most of the Cinco de Mayo celebrations is also surprising to most people as well. Learn more about Cinco de Mayo and the real reason for the celebration on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day, or jumping ahead to tomorrow?

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Starting point is 00:01:18 If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to nothing much happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. If you live in Mexico, there's a very good chance that you know historically what Cinco DiMaio is all about. If you live in the United States, you might generally know it as a Mexican holiday. And if you live outside of North America, there's a good chance.

Starting point is 00:01:46 chance you may have never heard of it at all, and this is your first exposure to it. Cinco de Mayo has largely become a celebration of Mexican culture and of Mexico. Many people outside of Mexico think that Cinco to Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day, and it is not. Mexican Independence Day, or Dia de la Independencia, is actually on September 16th. So, if it isn't a celebration of Mexican independence, what exactly is being celebrated on May 5th? Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, is a holiday that commemorates the Mexican Army's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. To understand why this victory was so important and it was celebrated, it's necessary to know the event surrounding the Battle of Puebla.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Mexico had achieved its independence from Spain a full 50 years earlier in 1810. As with most newly independent countries in the Western Hemisphere, Mexico had a hard time financially in its first few decades. decades of existence, and was under the burden of heavy debt. In particular, Mexico had fought two costly wars, the Mexican-American War with the United States, and the Reform War, which was a civil war regarding the role of the Catholic Church in Mexico. These wars left Mexico bankrupt, and on July 17, 1861, Mexican President Benito Juarez declared a two-year moratorium on the payment of foreign debts owed to European nations. This gave Mexico a bit of breathing room, but it obviously angered the Europeans. France, Britain, and Spain joined together to send naval and military forces

Starting point is 00:03:21 to Mexico's largest port on the Atlantic, Vera Cruz. Mexico eventually reached a negotiated settlement with Britain and Spain for the removal of troops and the repayment of debt. However, France, under the leadership of Napoleon III, saw this as an opportunity to establish a French-controlled government in Mexico. This would allow France an opportunity to re-establish a presence and influence in the Americas, which they hadn't really had since their loss at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec almost a century earlier. In late 1861, French forces landed in Veracruz, where they pushed out the Mexican forces defending the city. They began to advance towards Mexico City, but met fierce resistance along the way near the city of Puebla. Mexican forces near Puebla,

Starting point is 00:04:06 led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, were largely of local indigenous men who were poorly equipped, poorly trained and vastly outnumbered. On May 5, 1862, the Mexican forces under General Zaragoza met the French under the leadership of General Charles de Laurentier at the Battle of Puebla. The exact numbers are known, but the Mexicans were outnumbered somewhere between two or three to one. Despite being poorly equipped, trained, and outnumbered, the Mexicans won a surprising victory. The Mexicans had 83 killed, whereas the French lost 462 men. of the victory spread quickly across Mexico, where it resulted in a massive boost in morale. Just four days after the battle on May 9th, President Juarez declared that the anniversary of the

Starting point is 00:04:51 battle would be a Mexican national holiday known as Battle of Puebla Day, or the Battle of Cinco de Mayo. While the Battle of Puebla was a great victory for the Mexicans, it was short-lived. The next year, the French landed in Mexico with 30,000 troops and managed to install an Austrian archduke known as Maximilian I as Emperor of Mexico. However, French influence over Mexico itself was short-lived, as Maximilian only ruled from April 1864, until his execution by the Mexican Republic on June 19, 1867. The story of Maximilian I and his subsequent downfall is for another episode.

Starting point is 00:05:30 After the Battle of Puebla, north of the border in the United States, there was still a large Mexican presence who had a vested interest in what was happening back in Mexico. In 1863 on the first anniversary of the battle, Mexican miners, along with Americans working alongside them in California, had a big celebration as they didn't want to see Mexico dominated by the French. This was all taking place in the middle of the American Civil War and the fight for Mexican freedom was seen in a similar light as the fight for freedom taking place

Starting point is 00:05:59 in the United States. The celebration was used to raise money and recruit men to go and fight the French. This was the first Cinco de Mayo celebration in California, which started an annual tradition among the Mexican community living there. With regards to the celebration of Cinco de Mayo south of the border, the next big event took place in 1876 when Porfirio Diaz became the president of Mexico. Diaz was the de facto dictator of Mexico for over 30 years, a period in Mexican history which is known as the Porfiriatto. It just so happened that Diaz was a young officer who served at the Battle of Puebla.

Starting point is 00:06:36 because of his personal involvement, Diaz heavily promoted the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. It became not just a celebration of Mexico, but a celebration of him as well. After the fall of Diaz in 1911, the celebration of Cinco de Mayo quickly fell out of favor in Mexico because of its close personal association with Diaz. However, back in the United States, particularly in California, the day never became tainted with the personality of Porfiro Diaz. The day continued to be a celebration of the Battle of Puebla and a general celebration of Mexico and Mexican culture. After World War II, the day was adopted by Mexican-American groups in California as a day to celebrate their cultural identity and pride. It became part of what was known as the Chicano movement.

Starting point is 00:07:23 In the 50s and 60s, the celebration of the day spread to other U.S. cities with large Mexican-American populations. There would usually be parades, parties, and speeches by notable officials. In the 1970, the holiday, as all holidays do, became commercialized. Beer companies latched on to Cinco de Mayo as a new reason to go out and drink. There was also an explosion of Mexican restaurants in the United States during this period, all of which had a vested reason in promoting the holiday to bring in customers. Today, Cinco de Mayo was hardly celebrated in Mexico at all. The only place where there are major celebrations are in the state of Puebla,

Starting point is 00:07:58 where the battle took place, along with smaller celebrations in Veracruz. So, Cinco de Mayo is mostly a Mexican-American holiday now, not a Mexican one. To this extent, the holiday most similar to Cinco de Mayo would probably be St. Patrick's Day. While St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland, it was Irish Americans who really took the idea and ran with it, turning it into a general celebration of Ireland and Irish culture. Many people use it as an excuse to go to an Irish pub and drink. Likewise, Cinco de Mayo, which was originally celebrated in Mexico, is now mostly a day of celebrating Mexican culture generally, developed by Mexican Americans in the United States.

Starting point is 00:08:37 Many people use it as an excuse to go to a Mexican restaurant to drink Mexican beers, margaritas, and various tequila. It isn't really an official holiday anywhere other than the state of Puebla, but that doesn't stop it from being observed. Over 100 cities in the United States have organized Cinque de Mayo celebrations, and there's usually something done by the President of the United States to acknowledge the day. Before I close, I should use the this opportunity to give the history of one of the foods most closely associated with Cinco de Mayo. Nachos. Nachos are not a traditional Mexican food.

Starting point is 00:09:13 They are, more accurately, a Mexican-American dish, and its origin story is very specific and well-documented. In 1943, during the middle of World War II, the wives of soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, would often cross the border into Piedras, Negress, Mexico to go shopping. One of the women, Mamie Fanan, was a regular at a restaurant in Pietras Negress called the Victory Club. One day she brought several of her friends over to the victory club for something to eat. However, there was a problem. The chef had left for the day, and the matre d. Ignacio Anaya had to find something to serve the women.

Starting point is 00:09:50 And here I should note that the nickname for people named Ignacio is often nacho. Ignacio went into the kitchen to find something to serve the women. He found some freshly made corn tortillas, so he fried them and then covered them with three. freshly shredded Colby cheese from Wisconsin, melted the cheese, then placed a single-slice jalapeno pepper on them. The women loved it. And when they asked Ignacio what it was called, he just shrugged and said, well, I guess we can call them nachos special. The name Nacho stuck. But the interesting thing is that nachos wasn't originally plural for nacho. It was a possessive apostrophe S, as in belonging to nacho. Given their simplicity, nachos spread rapidly.

Starting point is 00:10:32 The original recipe from Nacho Anaya was published in 1954, and in the 1960s they were being served at Mexican restaurants throughout Texas. Nachos were introduced to California in 1959 by a waitress named Carmen Roka, who worked at the El Cholo Spanish Cafe in Los Angeles. In 1976, the Texas Rangers began selling what they called ballpark nachos, which were just corn chips with a cheese sauce dumped on it. On September 4, 1978, sportscaster Howard Cosell mentioned eating nachos in a game between the Baltimore Colts and the Dallas Cowboys,

Starting point is 00:11:05 cementing their popularity. Nachos, like Cinco de Mayo, both technically have Mexican origins, but really were developed and took off in the United States. So on this Cinco de Mayo, wherever you happen to be, take some time to enjoy some Mexican food and music, but also take a moment to think of the Battle of Puebla

Starting point is 00:11:24 and how a superior French army was defeated by several thousand scrappy Mexican fighters. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. In the recent episode about Galaxies, I read a review from a listener in Norway and mentioned that we have now unlocked the Norway

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Cinco de Mayo

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