cinco de mayo isn't really celebrated in mexico - it's really started as a way for mexicans in the US to celebrate their mexican culture. Kinda like st. patrick's day (except the Irish actually celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland).

salsa dancing might be carribbean but it's root are now tied to all of latin america, not just the carribbean. It would be kinda like the blues. Sure, it was started by share croppers in the Lousiana delta but it's roots now spread worldwide (in the form of rock and/or roll).

Sangria is a spanish drink but, come on, it's alcohol. Mexicans will drink anything.

Cinco De Mayo is just an excuse to listen to Tejano music, drink a lot of booze, hang out with your friends and cruise around in a Low Rider. It's never been very form specific and is just another excuse to party - not that mexicans need any excuses in the first place.

Viva Mexico!

It also happens to be my birthday, which is all the more reason to live it up! When I was little, I thought that the holiday was actually for MY birthday. Is it any wonder, then, that I have always had an inflated sense of self?
Viva Mexico! Viva Msali!

In this case, I think it's "overthinking a plate of tapas," and no, you aren't.

Or, am I plate of beansing again?

you had to bring up beans....

Si. Una plata de frijoles! Me lo siento, señoras y señores.

Things like these are hard to define. Cultures mix. I try to be cautious.

I imagine a French person would be pretty upset if they heard, "Come on, it's Bastille Day! Where's the schnitzel?"

The Meskins and Tejanos I knew back in the day were all norteños, so knowing how to two-step and polka was a bit more useful than being able to salsa (I just do the mambo, anyhow). Cerveza vice sangría, too, come to think of it.

I've always thought we could think our amigos cervezaria Corona y tequilaria Jose Cuervo for Cinco de Mayo.

I am going to Costa Rica in June and the Lonely Planet guide says that many bars in some of the beach towns will have Mariachis, tequila and margaritas even though those are Mexican things. They also point out tham many Americans think Costa Rica is an island.

In SoCo [the Austin one], they are having a "drinko de Mayo" pub crawl.

thank not think. I think I've been exposed to too much tequila and beer over the years to think straight.

I imagine a French person would be pretty upset if they heard, "Come on, it's Bastille Day! Where's the schnitzel?"

Thgat would depend on just exactly how were celebrating. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Merry Christmas! Here's a tree and a magic fat man! Oh wait

Cinco de Mayo is a hell of an ironic cultural touch point for Mexicans living in the southwestern US, considering the outcome of the 1845 US-Mexican War meant that a whole lot of what had been Mexico wound up becoming US territory. I think it's more akin to, say, Confederate Memorial Day than St. Patrick's Day.

Un plato de frijoles. Una plata means "a silver."

I don't see the problem with Pimm's and champagne on 4 July, as long as I still get to blow something up after sunset.

Like Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day, it's just another cultural appropriation which marketing strategists for booze companies and the restaurant and bar industry have found to be a reliable themed sales tactic. Notice that all of them fall at times of year and days that are usually not big liquor-sales days. Viva Marketing!

My son was born on Cinco De Mayo. While the doctor was in the middle of delivering him (planned c-section), she was asking her hospital co-workers if they knew where she could get a nacho-chip sombrero to serve guacamole from at her party. (I love that story).

Hopefully his experience will be like yours, msali, and he will enjoy the 'extra' celebration. To ease any guilt of cultural appropriation, I will present him with a plate of refried beans to contemplate each year.

i thought costa rica was an island.

They also point out tham many Americans think Costa Rica is an island.

My college ex was from Honduras. Most people had no idea where that was. She got questions everywhere from "Is that in East Texas" to "Isn't that in Africa"?

ufez, I think that's just plain old poor geography at work. When I moved from Maine to Texas, I was asked more than once, "Maine? Is that in Canadia [sic]?"

Cinco de Mayo is a hell of an ironic cultural touch point for Mexicans living in the southwestern US, considering the outcome of the 1845 US-Mexican War meant that a whole lot of what had been Mexico wound up becoming US territory.

Um, Cinco de Mayo has nothing to do with the Mexican-American War. (Which didn't start until 1846, anyway.)

It celebrates a victory over the French in 1862, when the US was backing Mexico, under the Monroe Doctrine. After the Civil War ended, the US threatened to invade Mexico, the French withdrew, and Mexican forces, after a brief civil war of their own, retook control of the country. The US and Mexico have remained allies ever since.

When I moved from Maine to Texas, I was asked more than once, "Maine? Is that in Canadia [sic]?"

One journalist covering the NCAA (which was in Buffalo) was overheard saying "oh, they play the Canadian anthem here because half of Buffalo is in Canada." Geography is a lost art.

Good catch psmealey. I'm with you and halonine. (And Miko.)

(It would be easier if we could just mod up comments. Why is everything not slashdot???)