Here on the lower ridges of the Sierras in Northern California the supermarkets lose no opportunity to sell their stores to the wall. The latest methods are vast entry displays in which the packaged and artificial foods are stacked to the ceiling so you won't miss out on the next [holiday] [national day of...] [holiday in another country, language, or other element of the vibrancy and the diversity], or some such mercantile nonsense. This month's "celebration" it concerns something called "Cinco de Mayo."
What is this "celebration?" Well it once had something to do with: "The date observed to commemorate the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza." Strange but then again the history of the Mexican Army seems to be one of "unlikely victories," so this one is as good as another.
Of late the May 5 street celebrations in the US seem to be orgies of hating on the United States and praising the bouncy car and taco culture of Mexico from safe spaces (so far) inside the US.
Your moral and intellectual betters lose no time in reminding you that May 5 is just a Hispanic version of St. Patrick's Day. Maybe but I don't recall the St. Pats Parade in NYC being a hotbed of treason, felonious behavior, and America hating. Still, our shopkeepers never pass up an opportunity so when I entered my local Safeway yesterday I had forgotten all about this smarmy little holiday imported from south of the border down Mexico way.
In one moment I was confronted by this wall; a wall that Safeway and the faux-Mexican food producers somehow (unlike Congress) found the money to build.
Ah yes, never let anyone forget that in America we're so nice we celebrate Cinco de Mayo as well as making Spanish Numero Uno on our telephone tree choices. Upon being reminded my first thought was, "What? No Quatro de Julio Down Mexico Way?"
My second thought was, "Of course not. Mexicans aren't suckers."
Cinco Dr Mayo is a harmless excuse to drink cervezas and margaritas and eat delicious Mexican food. Gustavo Arellano, my go to guy for dealing with my Mexican in-laws, has this to say: "I basically think Cinco de Mayo is one of the most pointless holidays ever created. I don’t celebrate it per se, I don’t look forward to it or wear a sombrero or go to a Mexican restaurant to go celebrate it. If people want to celebrate it, that’s fine, but I just think they are fools. When I say 'fools' I’m referring to Mexicans celebrating it because there is nothing to celebrate."
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/05/ask-a-mexican-columnist-cinco-de-mayo-is-pointless/
So have fun on the 5th and remember to make a distinction between American citizens of Mexican ancestry, some whose families have been here since way back when, and illegally immigrated citizens of Mexico.
It's such a bummer that they have nothing to celebrate.
Posted by: Sam L. at May 3, 2017 12:01 PMAnd Safeway manages - again - to present a Mexican wearing a huuuge sombrero playing a guitar as the emblem of Cinco de Mayo.
Racism, ethnicism, sterotyping, Privilegio de los norteamericanos and all other -isms, too. Thanks, Safeway!
Posted by: Donald Sensing at May 3, 2017 12:54 PMWell, the Mexicans that I know LIKE mariachis. I don't think that would bother them at all. Not that I know all about Mexicans (some of my best friends are Mexican, heh)-just what I've observed.
Posted by: Bunny at May 3, 2017 1:02 PMCinco de Mayo, from what I remember from my misspent yoot, was just a reason to drink some beer. No matter that there was a defeat of the French, no matter what "academics" tried to link to the beer-drinking practices. It was just another reason to drink beer (or margaritas once someone figured out how to make them).
Kind of like celebrating the grand opening of a pack of cigarettes.
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