Happy Cinco de Mayo (Or Not, Who Am I To Impose?)

   My three closest Mexican friends, Elina, Jose, & Steve, do not understand why such a big deal is made about Cinco de Mayo here in the United States.

   I know this because I asked them how much Cinco de Mayo means to them.

   Let me clarify something here; by "Mexican friends" I mean friends of mine who were actually born in Mexico (and one, Steve, who still lives there), not friends of mine who trace their ancestry to Mexico but were born in the United States - those friends of mine here in the U.S. who are of Mexican descent do not all identify as Mexican-Americans, so instead of getting into a big ol' game of ethno-geo-political distinguishing factors, I only asked Elina, Jose & Steve how they celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

   Elina, who was born on a ranch in the Mexican state of Durango, said she never even heard of Cinco de Mayo as far as it being a holiday is concerned, as it was not celebrated as such where she grew up. However, as she now runs a Mexican restaurant in Downtown Denver, she loves and participates in Cinco de Mayo as enthusiastically as every owner of an Irish pub themed American bar celebrates St Patrick's day. 

  Jose, who was born in Mexico City, also said that he wasn't aware of Cinco de Mayo as a significant holiday until he came to the states in the late 1980's. He said it is not a very big part of the way he personally celebrates his Mexican heritage, but he does like the general celebration of Mexican culture and participates in a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Mexican restaurant his family owns in Thornton.

   Steve was born and raised and still lives in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, which is a fairly new city on the southern west coast of Mexico. He comes from a family of commercial fishermen, and that is how he makes his living. He professes he cannot understand why Cinco de Mayo is a big deal in the states, and that the only big celebration in his part of Mexico is Carnival, which was two months ago. 

  Two interesting side notes about Steve - he was named after Steve McQueen, his mother's favorite American actor - and our entire conversation was via texting this morning - a text conversation from Denver to Puerto Escondido in real time! We live in an amazing age.