Look, I’m not a party-pooper. I like me some holidays, even the minor ones. But as we come off another Cinco de Mayo, let’s talk about the absurdity of some of our American holiday celebrations. Now, first off my Mom’s side of the family had a significant amount of Mexican ancestry, and still Cinco de Mayo has never been a big thing for me. I realize that historically, there has been celebration of it among Mexican-Americans, originally in California, but somewhere in the 1980s becoming a more national “celebration” for people in general. But it’s such a weird holiday (don’t even get the day off, so “holiday” is a stretch) and even more so perhaps than is Saint Patrick’s Day, though there is some similarity in how we treat it.
Now, despite how much I talk about race around here, I’m not going to get on about cultural appropriation or racism. I mean, maybe just a tiny bit to start. Why do we grown-ups think of going out to Mexican joints and eating and drinking as a way to celebrate a minor Mexican celebration of a key victory against colonial French forces that was erased by a key defeat shortly thereafter (and no, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, which is a whole other date and a lot more important to Mexicans)? Why do white people in particular slap on some cheap, funky-looking sombreros sometimes when they do this? It’s a little insulting. I mean, I know the Mexican restaurants are happy for the extra money and play into this, but still…
Really, though, my musings on this are more about why we need to drink heavily to celebrate this day, for one thing. It’s like Saint Patrick’s Day, where Americans white and otherwise become “Irish” for a day and drink heavily. Is that how we recognize Irish and Mexican people? Inebriation? It’s both funny and weird and maybe a little bit sad.
At least as schoolkids we might have learned a little bit about Mexican culture on or near Cinco de Mayo, unlike Saint Patrick’s Day, where we (at least we used to) pinch people who forgot to wear green on that day. But we go from that to drinking for those days as grown-ups?
I like a nice drink now and again; don’t get me wrong. But that’s just it. Do you know why Cinco de Mayo became popular in the 1980s and continued to today? Because of marketing efforts by beer and liquor companies. From what I read, beer sales are almost as high for Cinco de Mayo as they are for SuperBowl Sunday. That’s right. Like so many little holidays, we celebrate the way we do because of capitalism and commercialism. Spending on the products we’re directed in order to show we’re in the spirit.
Where else do we do this weirdness? Memorial Day and Labor Day, where we don’t usually think about fallen soldiers in past conflicts or the plights or workers (and success of labor efforts by workers), respectively, but instead have been for decades served up sales at stores and car lots. I mean, really, it’s weird. Certainly, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and Easter have been commercialized as well, but at least a lot of that is more in line with the celebrations and/or the togetherness associated with them. The influence of capitalism and corporations is too much sometimes, but at least it feels in spirit to some degree with those holidays.
I’m not saying let’s not get together on Cinco de Mayo. I’m not saying let’s never go to pubs on Saint Patrick’s Day. Nor am I saying cancel those Memorial Day or Labor Day backyard barbecues or whatever.
But perhaps we should be a bit more mindful of what the days are, and whether we need to celebrate them the way that we do. Human connection and fun are important. But maybe we could go a little deeper than tacos and margaritas and Mexican beer and sombreros for Cinco de Mayo? Maybe think about the people Memorial Day memorializes? Consider workers on Labor Day? Stuff like that. At least some of the time? Anyway, something to think about.
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