Cinco de Mayo !

Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Mexican Independence Day. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with more fanfare by Latinos in the United States, as opposed to 16 de Septiembre (September 16th), which is the day that celebrates Mexican Independence from Spain, and is the the day that is celebrated in Mexico as Mexican Independence Day. The reasons why this dichotomy exists lies in decisions made during the Civil Rights Era, by the leaders of the Chicano Movement.Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the first leader of the Mexican revolt against Spanish rule, is known as the father of Mexican independence. Abandoning academic life in the early 1790s, Hidalgo served as the pastor of several central Mexican parishes. He made most of these parishes into centers of cultural life and independent economic endeavor, although Spanish law prohibited economic activity that competed with industry in Spain. In 1803 he became the pastor of Dolores, a town in Guanajuato. There he and his intellectual associates eventually conspired to achieve independence from Spain. When their conspiracy was discovered, they proclaimed rebellion- el Grito de Dolores (cry of Dolores)--on Sept. 16, 1810, the day usually celebrated as Mexican Independence Day.Mexico was later conquered by the French army, and their susequent defeat by the Mexican army is celebrated on Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla, Mexico, where on May 5, 1862, Mexican patriots defeated the French army.