Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cinco De Mayo

I don't really celebrate Cinco De Mayo. Not for any reason other then I don't know why it is celebrated. Apparently it is a regional holiday in Mexico that commemorates the Mexican Army's unlikely defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862. Wikipedia says that it is actually celebrated more in the United States then it is in Mexico. In Mexico, it is only celebrated in the Puebla region.

My only real recollection of anything having to do with Cinco De Mayo had to do with my family going out to dinner. It was on a Thursday and my parents and grandparents had stopped by our house and we decided to go get something to eat. We hadn't had Mexican food in a while, so Sarah suggested we go to a place called Cazadores.

When we get to the restaurant, we notice that the parking lot was packed. This seemed odd as it was a Thursday. We get out of the car and walk to the door only to see a huge line of people waiting to get in. Again, very unusual. I have never seen a wait to get a table at Cazadores. So, I asked a guy standing in line what is going on and he looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently, my not knowing Spanish made me unable to translate Cinco De Mayo to mean the 5th of May. The one Thursday we decide to go eat Mexican food, just happens to be May 5th. So, we decided to get out of line, go to another restaurant, and put off our enjoyment of Mexican food until Seis De Mayo.

I still don't know much about Cinco De Mayo, but I do know that it is not a good day to be craving Mexican food if you don't want to stand in line a really long time.

2 comments:

Mim said...

Interesting experience. There is usually some reminder of Cinco de Mayo where I work. Good reminder not to go out for Mexican food today.

Rob said...

We celebrated it yesterday. We got our mexican food and they even had the decorations up for Cinco De Mayo, but it was not crowded.