Happy Cinco de Mayo! Each year this Mexican holiday seems to grow bigger and bigger. But do you know where the celebration began and what it is we are celebrating? Here are some facts you may find interesting about Cinco de Mayo.
- Cinco de Mayo means “the fifth of May.” Many people believe it is Mexico’s Independence Day, but that is incorrect. (Mexico’s Independence Day is September 16.) Rather, Cinco de Mayo is the anniversary of a battle that took place between the Mexicans and the French in 1862.
- While Cinco de Mayo is technically a Mexican holiday it is actually more widely celebrated in the US. In Mexico the date is only celebrated in distinct regions such as Puebla where the original battle took place. In the states more than 150 celebrations take place across the country.
Holy guacamole! According to the California Avocado Commission, Americans are expected to consume more than 70 million pounds of avocados on May 5th alone. That’s a lot of guacamole.- The largest Cinco de Mayo event in the world is held in Los Angeles, California, where more than 600,000 people celebrate with music and food. The whole event is called Festival de Fiesta Broadway. Two other big festival are held far from Mexico, in Denver, Colorado, and St Paul’s, Minnesota, but they draw hundreds of thousands of participants.
- The Cinco de Mayo festival in Chandler, Arizona, is known for its Chihuahuas! There are Chihuahua parade, races and pageants. At the end, a King and Queen of the Chihuahuas are crowned.
Is Clay Aiken celebrating Cinco de Mayo? Clay has said that he is not a big fan of Guacamole or avocados and complained that too much food in California is smothered in the “green stuff.” However, maybe he and his family actually like a taco or two and maybe they like to munch on a plateful of Nachos. Who knows….It might be Fiesta Time at the Aiken House!!
The following videos show the remarkable performances that Clay puts on when he sings his favorite songs.
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Thank you for the info on Cinco de Mayo. We have a rather large Hispanic community where we live so I' familiar with the holiday. Always lots of food and music. Too bad I'm suck in a hotel 500 miles from home 🙂
Total agreement with Clay on the "green stuff" !!! Might be going to a Mexican Resturant to eat over the
weekend, though! Won't order any "green stuff".
Love both of the videos!!!
I just love both those videos. Clay and his amazing voice!! 🙂
I can't understand why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated here. Mexico, yes, I get that. But it really isn't a U.S. holiday. History doesn't support it. Seems like it's just an excuse to drink a lot of tequila!
Um, as musicfan says, it is not celebrated in Mexico as a national holiday, just in some provinces. In the U.S., I think it's become a tradition among the expatriate Mexicans here because it can belong to them (and we have a lot of them!). Like the Irish have St. Patrick's Day, lol. And yes, both do a lot of drinking, haha! Tequilla is an awesome booze, btw. You don't get a hangover!
Wonderful, wonderful videos, I enjoy them so much, never tire of his voice, way to go Clay. Thanks musicfan, you do a great job and also thanks for the info on the Mexican holiday.
I was here at the OMG concert when he sang "Unchained Melody" Gives me goodebumps to listen to it. Exciting night.
Oh, Kitty, you lucky thing. I've heard about that night — I get goosebumps listening too, even tho I wasn't there. (Love that you all call it the "OMG concert", haha!!)
clay i agree with you on the green stuff and ilove both videos of clay and his verry amazing voice
Thank you for a great newsletter! Loved the info on Cinco de Mayo. Having lived in L.A. a long time, it intrigued me coz I hadn't heard of the "fiesta". Researching that led me to look up Olvera Street and brought back memories of when I watched the "yacht race" (used to be any old kind of sailboat!) from Newport Beach to Ensenada, so I looked that up too … ended up spending Saturday celebrating a then-vs-now Cinco de Mayo on the internet, lol.
Bless you too for the wonderful Clay videos; never get enough of That Voice, and watching him sing is, as you so aptly put it, "remarkable"!! 😀
Love that you also capture his tweets on this blog, it's fascinating to be see what's going on with him, I'm grateful you do that for us.