As we all know, May 5 happened last week–which, in Mexico, is known as a special holiday called Cinco de Mayo. This is the day Mexico had an amazing victory back in 1862. Today, in the U.S., we celebrate Hispanic heritage on Cinco de Mayo.

The history behind Cinco de Mayo is that Mexico was in economic antigrowth, meaning they were, basically, in recession. They got loans from France, and were unable to pay them back when they were due, so they declared war in Puebla. Mexico needed bonds to fund the war.

The French came in and wanted to build an empire on the new land, and decided that New Mexico was the best place for it. The French ended up narrowly losing the war, and were chased out of Puebla by the Mexicans. The president of Mexico declared the 5^th of May, the day of victory, a holiday, and we now know it as Cinco de Mayo.

On this holiday, there are many ways to celebrate with festive foods and decorations. You can show your chef skills in the kitchen, or take home some Chipotle. If you’re on a budget and not too crafty in the kitchen, there’s always Taco Bell. Some foods you can create to help celebrate this day are tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, tortillas, taquitos, tamales, empanadas, queso, and many more.

We went around the school and asked people what they were planning on doing for Cinco de Mayo. We asked Alyssa Plitt what she did to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and she said, “I went to Taco Bell with my family to enjoy a meal.” We also asked Madison Burns, and she said, “I went to Chipotle with my ‘bae’ to celebrate.”

Whether you go out to eat or stay home and cook, there’s a lot of fun ways to celebrate this historic holiday. You can commemorate it with family, friends, or even by yourself, by learning about the history of Cinco de Mayo and helping to celebrate Hispanic heritage.