Frequently Asked Questions
When is Cinco de Mayo?
On the fifth of May, pendejo.
When is the Cinco de Mayo Marching Fiesta?
On the Saturday before Cinco de Mayo.
Is Cinco de Mayo Mexico's Fourth of July?
No. Mexico and all of Latin America uses the same Gregorian Calendar, so the Fourth of July is the cuatro de julio. If you mean Mexican Independence Day, that day is the dieciséis de septiembre.
Well what's Cinco de Mayo, then?
In 1861 Mexico owed France beaucoup dinero. France decided to forcose on the country and invaded. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the date of a battle in Puebla when the Mexican Republican Army, greatly outnumbered, defeated the French army in 1862. That battle, however, did not stop the French from occupying Mexico City. They then placed Maximilano I as Emperor of Mexico. The French withdrew five years later in part because of US pressure (shhh)--ushering in an new republican era in Mexico, with Benito Juárez as president.
Benito Juárez?
Mexico's first indigenous president (our Obama) after heading the provisional government in El Paso del Norte (now Cuidad Juárez; the US to the north of the Rio Grande River took on the name El Paso dropping the appropriate yet confusing suffix)
What's Maximiliano I's story?
The probable child of an Austrian archduke and Bavarian princess (rumor has it that Napoleon II may have been the babydaddy) lived as the Austrian regents in Milan until Emperor Franz Joseph canned his ass because of his older brother's cozy relationships with the Italians. Maximiliano first turned down the offer of a Mexican corona (crown not beer) and went to Brazil. Napolean III and Mexican elites, desperatly needing a blue-blooded puppet, later conned him into believing that the Mexican people desperately wanted to import him in as supreme ruler. He agreed, but noone bothered to mention that he'd loose his Austrian aristocratic titles. Shaft? Well, considering that after a short stint as Emperor of Mexico, he was executed by the new rebublican government, one could make that argument.
So does the Amigos de los Amigos have a queen and king like other krewes?
No each year, the Amigos del los Amigos selects a Benito Juárez and Maximiliano I. (Benny and Max for short)