Any perceived lack of interest in Cinco de Mayo in the Bay Area cannot be due to it being celebrated much more in the U.S. than in Mexico, since that has always been the case.

It amuses me as well that the event commemorated is a military victory over the French. Just think how festive it would be if they had defeated Italy in battle! It's sort of like being the world's tallest midget.

FWIW, the day seemed as celebrated as usual by the Hispanics around here. That is anecdotal, of course, based only on what I observed personally.

Are there really more illegal Mexicans in the U.S. than legal American citizens of Mexican origin? Do you have anything to back that up? Some round numbers I have heard are that there are 11-12 million illegals out of 50 million total.

Speaking of dates, it wasn't until I filled out my first referee card this afternoon that I realized today's date is pretty cool numerically (at least in MM/DD/YY countries) -- 5/6/7.


>Gee, it seems like a unusual year for the celebration of Cinco de Mayo in the San Francisco Bay Area. I cannot speak for the rest of the nation but the apparent lack of interest seems to be due to a few important facts. First of all, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the United States and not in Mexico.
>
>What is Cinco de Mayo all about? For those that do not know what the meaning of this celebration is all about, it has to due with a battle fought by the Mexicans against the French, at a little town in Mexico called Puebla.
>
>The United States assisted Mexico with arms and was unable to send military forces to prevent the French invasion. We were a bit preoccupied at the time over whether or not slavery should be acceptable or states rights if you will – depending upon your point of view. At that point in time the Monroe Doctrine was of secondary interest.
>
>An aside: On May 5th 1993, my wife and I went to our local coffee house (before Starbucks was popular) where they had a daily special coffee. On that day the manager of the coffeehouse had a sign that the special of the day was, “French Viennese Roast – Happy Cinco de Mayo”. I burst into laughter and the manager told me, “You’re the only one who got it”!
>
>Anyway, my observation is that there are very few Mexicans Americans left in our country expressed as a percentage of population. They are outnumbered by Mexican illegal aliens. The illegals have better things to due like survive, then to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.