by Adrianna Morales

Cinco de Mayo is a yearly celebration on May 5th to celebrate Mexico’s victory over the second French Empire, the battle of Puebla in 1862. People usually celebrate by going to parades with colorfully dressed dancers with music, typically mariachi music, and eating traditional food. People celebrate Cinco de Mayo in different ways and dress a certain way. The purpose of Cinco de Mayo is to expand diversity, to celebrate Mexican freedom, and culture.

What are parades like for Cinco de Mayo? People set up little activities for kids and adults; for example, they set up a station for people to make DIY piñata filled with a bunch of treats/ sombreros, or even play lotería. Loteria is a traditional Hispanic board game of chance, it’s similar to bingo, and is played with a deck of cards instead of number ping pong balls; every image has a name as well as the cards. 

Celebrating Cinco De Mayo includes usually having a cookout with family and friends, and doing little activities with the children like what is done in Mexico. A person could also go to a Mexican restaurant to eat traditional food or listen to traditional music as well. 

When I celebrate Cinco de Mayo, all of my family usually gets together, and either cooks outside on the grill or inside on the stove, if we cook on the grill, we typically eat steak or fish, but if we cook inside, we make tamales (tamales are like a burrito but instead of tortilla it is masa, and inside the masa, there is meat like chicken or pork, with salsa.). The children usually play outside or help cook. The best part of Cinco de Mayo for me is always the amazing traditional food that we share with our family and friends.