Cinco de Mayo

While restaurants and bars in the United States have seized upon Cinco de Mayo as a day of festivity, here in Guanajuato it is relatively un-marked. Monday was a holiday in honor of International Labor Day, but today was business as usual. Cinco de Mayo commemorates a battle that occurred near Puebla, México, on 5 May 1862, when the Mexican Army fought and defeated the invading French army. However, the war and the French intervention in Mexico would continue for several more years beyond this one battle. Therefore, the date warrants a couple of paragraphs in the school history books, but it is not a date of big national celebrations (except, I imagine, in Puebla).