Cinco de Mayo, Quilt part 7

When we lived in the heart of the West Side of St. Paul, a Hispanic part of town, we came to love the Cinco de Mayo holiday every year. Cinco de Mayo is the 5^th of May and is a celebration, not of Mexican independence as some believe, but of the occasion when the Mexican army defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. Napoleon had used Mexico’s perceived weakness to attempt a take over as part of his quest for world domination. The Mexican win is credited with dissuading Napoleon from joining the Confederates in the war between the states and possibly tipping the balance there.

Cinco de Mayo is a minor holiday in Mexico but has become a major celebration of Mexican heritage in the United States with parades, food vendors, political speeches and the like. I have three short stories about it:

1.   Alex was a preschooler and we all would walk the few short blocks down to what was then Concorde Street and is now Cesar Chavez to watch the parade. There were a lot of local politicians waving at the crowd and tossing candy, all kinds of local businesses waving and tossing candy, civic clubs waving and tossing candy. We loved it! But the best part of all were all the marching bands and the one vendor selling his BBQ spare ribs.

2.   You will note from the shirt that the eagle is holding a beat-up French flag on a broken staff – an excellent depiction of the event from the Mexican point of view. I was wearing the shirt one day on an excursion to Disney World. We were in line and there was a teenager behind me with his Mom. I noticed that he was studying my shirt and speaking with his Mom about it – in French! I learned from that experience that one person’s victory is another’s defeat and I have been a little more circumspect about where I wear the shirt.

3.   Then there is the Cecil story. My dad was named Cecil May. My older brother is Cecil May Jr. and has a son named Cecil May 3, sometimes called C3. Cecil 3 has a son named Cecil May 4 who has a son named Cecil May 5. From birth Cecil the 5^th has been called “Cinco” for Cinco de Mayo.