Comments on: Comments on 1566

Post number 1566

palegirl — Fri, 05 May 2000 13:26:08 -0800

Cinco de Mayo is the biggest day of the year for avocados -- it is a Mexican holiday, but a minor one. It marks a May 5, 1862, victory by a small army of Mexican patriots and peasants over stronger French forces, but it's not Mexican Independence Day -- a common misconception among Cinco de Mayo partyers in the United States. In the United States, it's become the Latin version of St. Patrick's Day -- largely because makers of beer, chips, salsa and tequila promote it heavily as a reason to party.

By: holgate

holgate — Fri, 05 May 2000 13:38:42 -0800

The St Pat's comparison is a good one: as a Brit of Irish extraction, with plenty of Irish friends, I was amazed at how faux-Irish the celebrations were. (Dubliners normally hide away from the influx of Bostonians with their green food colouring.) But then again, we didn't shift Mother's Day for the benefit of Hallmark ;) Good Liz Phair song, though, is "Cinco de Mayo".

By: EngineBeak

EngineBeak — Fri, 05 May 2000 13:58:42 -0800

Now that is a fine metafilter post.

By: bluishorange

bluishorange — Fri, 05 May 2000 14:28:25 -0800

it is.the page design on the cuervo site is laughable. especially at 1280x1024. maybe their designer was faschnookered, or however you spell it.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 05 May 2000 14:32:48 -0800

Here's a conspiratorial thought... Have you noticed how the marketers have sequenced "beer holidays" every two months throughout the year? St. Pat's in March, Cinco de May, 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, then New Year's Eve (I know, it's a "champagne holiday" if you have any money...)

By: chaz

chaz — Fri, 05 May 2000 14:47:48 -0800

now all they need to do is add 6 more and I'll be livin like I'm supposed to. What we need is a good President's day drink-off to get it started, then we can add in Father's day (cuz what Dad doesn't enjoy a tall, cold one?) and eventually the whole calander will be covered!

By: holgate

holgate — Fri, 05 May 2000 15:30:14 -0800

In Britain, we've just had three truncated weeks in a row, because of the Good Friday, Easter Monday, and May Day bank holidays. It's led a journalist to suggest that we could keep to a four-day working week all year long. Beer not included.

By: endquote

endquote — Fri, 05 May 2000 23:00:03 -0800

I party on Cinco de Mayo because it's my birthday. So there.

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Fri, 05 May 2000 23:57:05 -0800

i party on cinco de mayo (this year) because it's on a friday and i'm not allowed to post after four beers, either

By: tremendo

tremendo — Sat, 06 May 2000 08:28:26 -0800

True. I'm from México, it's not a big holiday. May 1st is "Día del Trabajo" like Labor day in the U.S. and the one day in May when nobody works. And it is the perfect excuse to have a "Puente" (bridge) when it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then it turns into a 4-day weekend. I felt kinda funny when some friends called me to wish me a Happy Cinco de Mayo. Not celebrated like this at all in Aztec land. Some powerful imperialist forces were defeated by uderdog patriots. Great! back to work. I like the excuse to have some tacos, cochinita pibil, horchata, tostadas, guacamole and *mucha salsa*.

By: tremendo

tremendo — Sat, 06 May 2000 09:41:43 -0800

BTW, the mexican government lists legal holidays here. 5 de mayo is not listed.

By: UWliberal

UWliberal — Sat, 06 May 2000 12:16:57 -0800

Cinco de Mayo is a trendy thing to celebrate now.. even here in Wisconsin, where we have only lilly white people who only eat white bread. I'm just waiting for Israeli Independence day to catch on -- but then again, falafel, pita, and hummus are not nearly as cool as tequila, beer, and salsa etc.. :)