How Cinco de Mayo Became a Holiday

The Fifth of May marked an unlikely military victory for Mexico in 1862, leading to the annual celebration we now recognize as Cinco de Mayo. Although the holiday conjures up images of raucous celebrations, Cinco de Mayo’s origins are much different. The battle victory alone was cause for celebration locally, but Mexican Americans in the United States saw it as an opportunity to start a political movement over 160 years ago. Now, the holiday is widespread in its country of inception which, perhaps surprisingly, is America.

Cinco de Mayo marks the Battle of Puebla, fought in Puebla, Mexico, on May 5, 1862. A group of poorly equipped Mexican soldiers, estimated to number 2,000 or as many as 5,000, defeated a French army of roughly 6,000, sent by Napoleon III to establish a French presence in Mexico. The holiday celebrates this single victory, which didn’t prevent France from controlling much of the country from mid-1863 until mid-1867.

Celebrations began soon after the Mexican victory, especially in Puebla, says Sehila Mota Casper, the executive director and co-founder of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. The triumphant news also crossed the border quickly.

“By the time [Latinos in California] heard about the news of the battle, they began to raise money for the Mexican troops, and they formed a really important network of patriotic organizations,” José Alamillo, a professor of Chicano studies at California State University Channel Islands, previously told Time.

“By 1863, Mexican Americans in California were already commemorating the date, treating it as a political and cultural moment tied to resistance and democracy,” Casper says. U.S. cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco were the first to mark the anniversary of the victory that year with parades, speakers and music.

Despite beginning as a political rallying cry for democracy, the holiday and its meaning have changed, especially as the Mexican-born population in the United States has grown. For example, in the 1960s, the Chicano Movement embraced Cinco de Mayo in its broader effort to highlight Mexican American identity in society, Casper explains.

“Cinco de Mayo comes from a precise historical moment, but in the United States, it also reflects the experience of Mexican American communities over time,” she says. “It has been a way to make culture visible, to gather publicly and to carry history across generations.”

Today, Cinco de Mayo isn’t recognized as a federal holiday in either Mexico or the United States, but the holiday is celebrated in both countries every year. In Mexico, its celebrations remain mostly within the state of Puebla, while festivities in the United States occur across much of the nation.