Cinco de Mayo

May 4, 2008

America has Oktoberfest to celebrate German traditions, Chinese New Year to honor the Chinese, St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate the Irish - and Cinco de Mayo to honor our Mexican neighbors and resident Mexican-Americans. But did you know that Cinco de Mayo - that most Mexican of holidays - isn’t such a big deal in Mexico itself?
Americans tend to think of Cinco de Mayo as the Mexican Independence Day, much like our 4th of July - but Mexico’s Independence Day is actually September 16, and it’s celebrated in Mexico with bell-ringing and a military parade. May 5 - Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. - is officially known south of the border as the Battle of Puebla Day, which is technically not a dia feriado obligatorio (“obligatory holiday”), but a holiday that is observed voluntarily to celebrate Mexico’s victory over France in the city of Puebla in 1862, when the outnumbered Mexican army rallied to the cause. As a matter of fact, Cinco de Mayo is actually shown to be celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico, mostly as a fun way to bring the Hispanic community together.

CINCO ESSENTIALS
So what’s the best way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Michigan? Pretty much the same as the celebrations that take place in states closer to the border. Cinco de Mayo is an especially festive occasion in places like Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Antonio, and El Paso, but that doesn’t mean that Northern Michigan can’t keep up. All you need are five things.
Cinco de Mayo has become commercialized in the U.S., with party decorations such as streamers in the colors of the Mexican flag, pinatas, sombreros, and pin-the-tail-on-the-burro games being some of the easiest to find. One cool addition to your Mexican celebration are the ubiquitous and super-festive papel picado - or “perforated paper” folk-art garlands. Created much like Northern Michigan kids create snowflakes, papel picado are made from rectangles of tissue paper in bright colors that are folded and snipped with scissors to create geometric patterns. These are then glued side by side onto a long length of string, just like the ones that are seen in many Mexican plazas or yards when a local fiesta is underway.
And, of course, after you get those decorations up, food, beverages, music, and dancing are the other four important parts of Mexican celebrations, all quite easy to acquire even this far from the border.

TORTILLAS, IGUANAS, AND JARRITOS
Most of today’s Mexican, and some Tex-Mex foods, are based on food traditions from the Maya and Aztecs, blended with ingredients the Spanish conquistadores brought in to the mix.
Some of the best known Mexican foods include flour and corn tortillas with cheeses, chicken, beef and pork (quesadillas or burritos); tacos; refried beans; the salty bread known as bolillo or telera; and a wealth of vegetables including peppers and chilies. Mexican cooks use plenty of spices in their dishes, from chile powder to garlic, anise, cilantro, cayenne pepper, and paprika to traditional sauce, which is made with over 30 different ingredients including chocolate. And if you really want to be exotic, you might try some of Mexico’s more unusual foods, such as iguana, rattlesnake, or (gulp) insects - followed up, of course, with baked goods such as Mexican sweet rolls or the creme-caramel-like Flan.
As far as beverages go, there are great options there, too. If you can find them at a Mexican restaurant or gourmet grocery, Mexican sodas (even Coca-Cola) have a different taste than American sodas, as Mexico typically uses sugar in their soft drinks as opposed to corn syrup.
The extremely good Jarritos sodas (available in Petoskey at Jose’s Taco’s) are the first national soft drink brand of Mexico - started in 1950 - and they’re available in flavors like lime, pineapple, strawberry, tamarind, and guava. Deceptive in its appearance, the popular Horchata - which looks milky, but has no dairy in it - is a refreshing cold beverage made of rice, cinnamon, sugar, almonds, and lime zest. Mexican hot chocolate is made with bittersweet cocoa, and is sometimes mixed with cinnamon, aniseeds, brown sugar, or masa (corn) flour. And of course there are the well-known cocktails - tequila, margaritas, sangria, or cervaza (Mexican beer.)

LOCAL MEXICAN OPTIONS
If you’re too lazy, er, busy to cook up your own Mexican feast, Northern Michigan can oblige with plenty of restaurant options for both Mexican and Southwestern foods. All are likely to have specials for Cinco de Mayo.
Of course, you’ll want to brush up on your dancing skills to really make an impression at your Cinco de Mayo event. Popular Mexican dance styles include the Jarabe Tapatio (known in English as the Mexican Hat Dance), salsa, the merengue, the mambo, and the quebradita.
For music to accompany your dance steps, just get downloading or make a stop at your local multimedia store. The best known Mexican music genre is ranchera, generally interpreted by mariachi bands - a few examples of this include Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan and Los Dorados de Villa - or even the version interpreted by American singer Linda Ronstadt, whose Arizona ranch roots inspired her to make a record of Mexican Canciones in 1987.
Banda music is popular through the central and northern Mexican states, and was created with strong influences from both the military and Native American sounds. Popular banda artists include Banda Jerez, Joan Sebastian, and Los Elegidos. And there’s always southern Mexican folk music, much of which focuses on the marimba, especially popular in Oaxaca, and featuring such musicians as Sergio Esquivel and Alejandro Escajadillo.
And if you want to modernize your Mexican tunes, try such cool Mexican artists as Carlos Santana, Tijuana’s Nortec Collective, Belanova, or Cafe Tacuba, whose newer styles range from rock to electronica.
Now that you’ve got all cinco of your Mexican holiday necessities ready - decorations, food, beverages, dancing, and music - all you need are a few friends, and your northern version of the Cinco de Mayo celebration will be complete.