Do Mexicans Celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Cinco de Mayo, or the Fifth of May, refers to the 1862 Battle of Puebla, when Mexican forces defeated a larger, better-equipped French army at the city some 100 miles southeast of Mexico City. Even though their adversary would eventually gain enough ground to control much of the country for a handful of years, the unexpected victory inspired celebrations locally and abroad. The holiday took on new life in the United States, so much so that today’s celebrations in Mexico are comparatively understated—if they happen at all.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in Mexico, but celebrations are often much smaller and largely occur within Puebla, where the battle took place. There, parades, reenactments of the victory and other public commemorations are typical, but those same celebrations don’t expand across the country.

“It did not expand into a nationwide civic holiday, so its meaning stays connected to that specific place and history,” says Sehila Mota Casper, executive director and co-founder of Latinos in Heritage Conservation.

Unlike Mexican Independence Day on September 16, Cinco de Mayo is not a federal holiday nor a day that prompts mass celebration. For many people in Mexico, it is simply the anniversary of a historic event.

In the late 19th century, Cinco de Mayo did hold a more visible place in national memory, Casper says. During the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, who was in power for some 30 years beginning in 1877, the holiday was more widely recognized, as he had fought in the battle himself.

But over time, especially after the Mexican Revolution deposed Díaz, Mexico’s national narrative became more closely tied to its Independence Day. “Cinco de Mayo did not disappear, but it settled into a more regional and educational role, centered in Puebla rather than across the country,” Casper explains.

In 1863, on the first anniversary of the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla, Mexican American communities, especially in California, began commemorating Cinco de Mayo. Against the backdrop of the American Civil War, these celebrations connected the Battle of Puebla to broader ideas of democracy and resistance, Casper says. Eventually, Cinco de Mayo became a day for people of Mexican descent to celebrate pride in their heritage. As Mexican American communities grew, so did the visibility of the holiday across the U.S.

With that came a shift in how the holiday was celebrated, and some of the initial meaning was lost. By the late 20th century, Cinco de Mayo had been widely adopted and commercialized. Today, some people in America view Cinco de Mayo as simply a day to party.

“It wasn’t until the 1980s that the beer industry decided, ‘Hey, this is a good holiday to make some money,’” Dora Ramírez, a professor of sociology at Boise State University previously told KTVB-TV.

Although Cinco de Mayo is more broadly celebrated in the U.S. than in Mexico, it doesn’t always come with historic and cultural understanding. “In many places, Cinco de Mayo is now treated as a generic celebration of ‘Mexican culture,’ rather than a commemoration of a specific historical event,” Casper says.