Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Today, the Spanish teacher in me emerges greatly!
For the past several years on Cinco de Mayo, I have taught my students WHAT Cinco de Mayo actually is!! Most Americans don't know, yet love to celebrate it! It never fails, every year when I'd ask my students, "Ok who remembers from last year what Cinco de Mayo is about?" Almost no one knew!
This year, I'm not teaching, so I thought I'd teach you, plus throw in a few ideas on how to celebrate on the cheap, of course!!
Many people think Cinco de Mayo is like our 4th of July, and it is their Independence Day....actually El 16 de Septiembre is their Independence day (or Sept. 16th!)! Pretty far away from the 5th of May, right! (Surely you know that Cinco de Mayo means May 5th!)
It actually commemorates the day that the Mexicans defeated the French, who came in the aftermath of the Mexican-American war because the Mexicans owed them money and weren't paying it back because of financial crisis! This actually takes place in 1862, over 50 years since Mexico became independent in 1810.
The Mexicans defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla (or "Battala de Puebla"), and although they ended up ultimately losing, it was still an important victory and represented how strong the Mexican people were.
My own little Cinco de Mayo story is that once during college a friend and I road tripped to see her brother in El Paso, TX, and randomly on May 5th decided to take a day trip to Mexico! We ended up in the middle of a parade and wondered why....it took us only a few seconds to remember the date and why there was so much commotion going on!! It actually made for a pleasant shopping experience in the market since no one else was there!
Now, Cinco de Mayo is much commercialized, and like many other holidays, the true reason for celebrating is forgotten. Now that you know, hopefully you'll remember and tell someone as you are eating your tacos and burritos tonight for dinner!
Here's a few ways to do Cinco de Mayo on the cheap.....
- Eat a 5 pound burrito in under a half hour at Taco del Mar and it's free! Check with your local restaurant for details! (Not exactly sure if I should recommend that!!)
- Get a gift certificate to a local Mexican restaurant through restaurant.com Take 60% Off and receive $15 FTD rewards with every order of $25 Gift Certificates with code GIFT. Pay $4 thru 5/11/09..
- In Nashville, Latin Music Festival this Saturday May 9th- Admission is free! Lots of music, food and fun!
- To find a Cinco de Mayo celebration in your area do a google search "Cinco de Mayo Festival + your city"
- Fun crafts to do with the kids and more here (I've done some of these with my students!)
- Recipes
- Got coupons from your newspapers for Ortega products and/or Daisy sour cream? Head to your nearest Harris Teeter (where today is the last day!) or Kroger (lasts all week!) and use them to get them for free or close to it!
I'll be keeping it simple this year and just cooking for my husband and I (since he's half Mexican, it's something we eat a LOT of anyways). I've got my Mahamata rice, Ortega beans, Ortega seasonings, tortilla chips, and Daisy sour cream all free from Harris Teeter. Cheap onions and peppers from Aldi, and marked down meat from Kroger and Food Lion that we'll be eating up tonight!! Only thing left to buy today is the cheese dip and that might be a splurge! Even though I've never eaten cheese dip when in Mexico....it sure goes good with all the above, doesn't it?? :o)
Please email me for questions, suggestions, and anything else at daisysdeals (at) hotmail (dot) com. As I begin this journey, please bear with me as I am still learning myself! If you see anything that you feel is inappropriate or against store/website policies please "politely" let me know.
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