Hebrew School

Overheard at deli this morning:

“Oh, today’s Cinco de Mayo, isn’t it? Gotta get some Coronas.”
“Yup.”
“What’s it celebrate?”
“Independence.”
“When was that?”
“Eighteen something…”
“From who?”
“The Spanish.”

Well, not entirely, according to Hebrew School breaking news. Although Cinco de Mayo has broad-based appeal in the States as a day to celebrate Mexican culture– and by association its continued self-determination– the Mexican holiday is primarily observed in the state of Puebla as the day Mexicans began to rout French forces on May 5, 1862. Regardless, due to the popularity of the American holiday*, and perhaps the fact that a large number of the city’s Mexican-American residents have a Poblano heritage, throngs of happy and festive humanity abounded yesterday. (It also happened to be a ridiculously beautiful day.)

Traditional masked dancing occurs at the base of Sunset Park’s slope.

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* Analogously, the process by which American culture subsumes and reshapes traditional holidays brought from other countries seems to hold true with Jewish holidays such as Chanukah and Passover. Interestingly, these are also holidays where we celebrate the victory over enemies, the stamping out of oppresion.