For our Holiday class website, I would like to concentrate on Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) was the day when the Mexican army won the battle of Puebla against the French. It was very unlikely that the Mexican army would win this battle since they were significantly outnumbered and had inferior weapons, so their victory inspired extreme national pride and is still celebrated today. The holiday is not big in Mexico outside of Puebla, and it is important to note that Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican independence day, which is September 16th.
In NYC, Cinco de Mayo seems to be much more significant to mexican immigrants for their pride and culture than it was back in Mexico. I’d like to attend the festivities on Cinco de Mayo to see exactly how this holiday is celebrated, and to conduct interviews to learn how people feel about this holiday, and how celebrations in Mexico are different. It would be interesting to focus on the food that people eat, the drinks served, and the specific traditions or customs that happen on this day. This can be observed at either or both of the Manhattan Cinco de Mayo parade or the Flushing Meadow Park Cinco de Mayo festival, which occur sometime around Cinco de Mayo.
