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Hello fellow Jabber Loggers and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today is the day that some take time out of their schedule to grill some fajitas, spend time with family, and have drinks. Why do we do this? Well, I believe it is just something that people have been brought up with. Something past down from generation to generation. Up until a few years ago I was under the same impression as others. We are celebrating our Independence Day. I remember as a teenager my family and I would go to the Civic Center in Holland, MI and they would have the place packed with those celebrating Cinco de Mayo. There were food stands, people dancing in respect to our culture, and the lowrider show in the parking lot. It was a good time but when some adults were asked about the reason for celebrating it was simply put that it was in celebration of our culture/heritage and our Independence Day.

Well this is not right and I never took the time to actually look into it until a few years ago when I had to do a video presentation for a speech class I was taking. I had to write a script and give my speech over web cam. My speech was based on Cinco de Mayo and it turned out that everyone I knew, myself included, was celebrating for the wrong reason. What fools! In our defense though we had been brought up with this idea. It’s almost sad in a way and all it took was a simple Google search to find the truth. From my previous post:

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over French forces at The Battle of Puebla on May 5th 1862. Mexico’s Independence occurred about forty years prior around September 27, 1821.

The celebration happens every year in the area that this battle occurred and when it was noticed in the United States it began in California. It was noted more for pride in our culture, heritage, and the strength of the people that fought. The pride, heritage, and strength for the people or La Raza has carried on so in that sense we celebrate for the right reason but not for our Independence Day. So in the end just remember, don’t be a pendejo. If you don’t know what a pendejo is it can stand for a lot of slang but it is mostly used to label one as a dumbass. Happy Cinco de Mayo!