Life here in America can sometimes be catergorised by the passing of milestones. For example, experiencing your first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Presidential Inauguration, SuperBowl Sunday or Academy Awards Party. But there is one event that occurred this week that is probably celebrated more in Los Angeles than in any other state. And, seemingly, more than in the country of origin.
Cinco de Mayo. Now because I know you all love a good history lesson, Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for ‘fifth of May’ and occurs, funnily enough on the 5th May. It is not, as some would believe, a celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day. It actually celebrates the Mexican army’s come-from-behind win at The Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 against the overwhelming favourites, The French Army, who hadn’t been defeated in 50 years. Well let’s face it, who doesn’t love a victory against the French. Except when they play the All Blacks in the World Cup – then a French victory fills me with a kind of sick glee. It got me wondering though as to what exactly French forces were doing in Mexico. It seems that Napoleon had sent troops to retrieve debts owed by a previous Mexican Government. That must have been some debt to travel that far just for money. Maybe Jet Blue were offering cheap fares. However, it would appear that the loss at Pueblo was only a setback as the French successfully captured Mexcio City. So effectively, Cinco de Mayo is like New Zealanders having a day celebrating that they scored a try against the French. Hey, who cares that the All Blacks eventually lost the game, we’ll take what we can get.
To put it mildly, it’s the Mexican version of St Patrick’s Day. Now every one knows St Paddy’s day – again, an event that seems to be celebrated around the world more than it is celebrated in Ireland. A chance for every person to claim some connection to a distant Irish gene pool just so they can have an excuse to take the day off work, wear green and drink Guinness until your bowel closes up in protest. Cinco de Mayo is very similar. Except with much stronger alcohol. Think about, we are talking about a day that celebrates Mexican heritage – the country that brought you Tequila. And siestas. Drinking and afternoon naps. Now that’s a holiday worth celebrating.
The question I have is should we do this in Australia as well? I have, however, previously written about Australia Day and the effects of being an expat celebrating overseas. But seeing as though we Aussies love any excuse for a day off work and a celebratory beer, and considering that eventually we will probably separate ourselves from the Monarchy and lose the chance to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday weekend, maybe we should be looking ahead and starting to create a list of possible reasons to celebrate. And they don’t even have to be good reasons. How about America’s Cup Day on the 26th September? The day we broke the longest winning streak in the history of sport. Okay so we lost it 4 years later and since then have been humiliated with boats sinking in the middle of a race, but hey let’s focus on the past glory. We could have a drink named in honour of the event called ‘The Winged Keel’, a concoction that may or may not be illegal – made up of Fosters, Boxing Kangaroo urine and Seawater. Actually that sounds gross. Lets replace the Fosters with something more palatable. And it could become a tradition that on America’s Cup Day whoever is the Prime Minister at the time should go on national television and drunkenly declare that any boss who sacks an employee for not coming into work that day is a bum. I miss Hawkey.
We could possibly have Logie Baird day – celebrated when Australian Television first went to air on the 30th September 1929. A day to remember all the great Australian TV shows that have aired ever since, sparing a moment to remember those that have fallen and not made it past 4 episodes before being boned. Yasmin’s Getting Married, Let Loose Live, Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos, Family Double Dare. Oh how soon we forget. Sadly the Logies itself is not one of those shows. But we could always celebrate the day by having simultaneous parties around the country in our own homes, dressing up in our best frocks, flash a nipple or two, drink copious amounts of champagne, invite over seemingly important people from another country even though we pretend we are far more important than them, and embarrass ourselves in front of them by talking to people waiting to use the bathroom. Think of the hilarity!
Closer to the potentially extinct Queen’s B’day date would be Shane Warne Day on June 4th. A day that celebrates the ‘ball of the century’. Again, forgetting the eventual betting scandals and sex tapes, we should just reminisce about the first ball he bowled in an Ashes series. We could commemorate by standing on a balcony and dancing around with a cricket stump over our heads, sinking copious amounts of beer with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and sex-texting our loved ones or soon to be loved ones or secret loved ones. It could be like the male version of Valentine’s Day. No cards, no flowers, just a saucy text and a drunken grope to say how mush you love her. Or her best friend. Or someone you just met in a bar.
So let’s take a page out of the Cinco de Mayo rulebook. Okay, so they lost badly and had their Capital City taken over eventually, but hey the 5th of May rocked! Let’s remember that day. Which, let’s face it, is a great ideal for life in general. Forget the big battles you’ve lost, just remember the little victories you’ve had against the odds.
And have another shot of tequila.
Adiós. Quiero pedir una cena ahora.
Images from the top by Alexandre Peres, nixwilliams and shellzie all on Flickr.
