Bet You Didn't Know This About Cinco de Mayo

I hope you have enjoyed your Cinco de Mayo today. It was a pretty normal day for me except we did have a fun reception for a fellow staff member of the school I work at, a retirement party, actually. There were great decorations and wonderful snacks along a Mexican theme. You see, the person retiring is our English Language Learners (ELL) teacher, a position formerly known as English as a Second Language or ESL, therefore the Cinco de Mayo theme was fitting and appropriate. You may or may not know much about this particular holiday celebration which has come to mean more than anything else simply an occasion to honor and celebrate Mexican heritage and traditions, culture, etc., and I have personally been a great fan of Mexico and of Spanish since I spent three months there as a high school student many years ago as an exchange student for a program called Youth For Understanding. I have always been intrigued by Cinco de Mayo. First of all, like practically every other holiday we celebrate here, it seems to be considered more than anything else an occasion to drink something alcoholic and Mexico is known for one or two popular alcoholic drinks, as most of you know. Second, it's not about Mexico's Independence, which was September 16, 1810, and we don't celebrate that in the U.S. So, I have a fun fact for you today. I just learned this today, and, curiously, I have already found two different versions of it, but I'm going to tell you the first one I found, and, maybe the second one if time permits. Are you ready? You may already know that Cinco de Mayo is actually an observation honoring what is known as the Battle of Puebla in which Mexico defeated a much better militarily equipped France on May 5, 1862. Now, why did France attack Mexico? Here's what I found out today, without going too deep into Mexican history about which I am certainly no expert, but this is what I read. In 1861, the first year of the presidency of Benito Juárez, the report said he imposed a two-year moratorium on interest payments on loans from Britain, France and Spain. Other reports say he stopped making payments at all, but I cannot vouch for that. Neither can I necessarily vouch for the Wikipedia report, but this is what I found: According to Wikipedia, "The French intervention in Mexico, initially supported by the United Kingdom and Spain, was a consequence of Mexican President Benito Juárez's imposition of a two-year moratorium of loan-interest payments from July 1861 to French, British, and Spanish creditors." There were reasons for this financial situation, and I don’t mean the slightest disrespect for President Juárez. I just found this tidbit of history vastly fascinating and humorous as well, looking through jaded eyes much later and with little historical context to boot, but I thought someone out there might be interested. So, there it is, your fun fact for the day. There is more to learn about this, as there is about everything under the sun, but I have to take my leave for this evening. Good night and happy Cinco de Mayo!