Cinco de Mayo
We’d like to make a case for the second-best made-up holiday as the perfect symbol of resistance
Possibly the best made-up holiday of all time, “May the Fourth” isn’t just a day for binge-watching Star Wars and hosting costume parties. It’s also a busy day for online traffic, both General Leia memes and, increasingly, endless essays scolding people for wanting to celebrate the second-best made-up holiday we’ve got — Cinco de Mayo.
Those essays take aim at those who partake in tacos and tequila to celebrate “Mexican Independence Day.” And since Mexico’s actual Independence Day falls in September, we must admit they’ve got a point. But when essayists go on to say Cinco de Mayo isn’t even celebrated in Mexico and that it’s a made-up holiday — an American invention, used, primarily to sell tequila — well, that’s a wild oversimplification.
First of all, all holidays are made up at some point. Second of all, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in some regions of Mexico, notably in the state of Puebla and its capital city (also Puebla), which is the site of a great historical battle that took place on May 5, 1862. Despite being outnumbered, General Ignacio Zaragoza’s troops defeated the invading French army.
According to David Hayes-Bautista, author of El Cinco De Mayo: An Amer
ican Tradition, Pueblans celebrated the day for a while after, but the fiestas fell off until the 1960s, when they were revived by the Chicano Movement. Largely, these were Mexican-American student activists in California, who saw Cinco de Mayo as the perfect symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.
Given the “Build the Wall” camp in the U.S. and a surge of anti-immigrant feeling in Canada, this feels like a pretty good time to embrace a symbol of resistance—also in the face of overwhelming odds. Not to mention a really great time to celebrate the cultural and culinary contributions of the diverse and dynamic Latin-X communities near and far. It’s time to reinvent Cinco de Mayo. Again.
The problem with salvaging Cinco de Mayo, of course, is that it’s got a lot of baggage, since some celebrations of the holiday degenerated in the 1990s and early 2000s into a drunken binge of TexMex food washed down with watery beer and bad tequila. And, since tequila has a serious foreign ownership problem, perfectly outlined by Chantal Martineau in How the Gringos Stole Tequila, it’s easy to make a case for skipping the
For those interested in doing a deep dive into tequila, head to Reposado on Ossington Ave., where the bartenders are seriously well-schooled on the spirit.
drinking and staying home and reading her book instead.
I’m going to make a case for going out and finding a respectful way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, though, because it’s harder to dehumanize anyone when we break bread, dance and raise a glass with our neighbours — in real life. So instead of withdrawing and reading about Cinco de Mayo on Facebook, check out one of the many new Mexicanowned taquerias in Toronto now. Or, for those interested in doing a deep dive into tequila, head to Reposado on Ossington Ave., where the bartenders are seriously well-schooled on the spirit and familiar with all the new and lesser-known brands. Plus, it’s just a great bar.
Sure, some of these tequilas are foreign-owned, but, in fact, the same can be said of Canadian whisky and almost every other spirit, since most of the name brands are caught in a dizzying matrix of multi-national owners and distributors. Tequila is a complicated product in a contested landscape. But it’s also a unique and singularly delicious product, as well as a universally recognized symbol of Mexico’s national identity. Better yet, the LCBO is getting a lot better at offering tasty boutique expressions, some of which aren’t even entirely foreign-owned but are, instead made according to cross-border, joint-owner partnerships. This season, there are alot of new labels on the shelves which will be unfamiliar to most of us.
We’ll start with Volcan De Mi Tierra Blanco (LCBO 903021; $76.95), an ideal pick for people who really want to taste the pure agave spirit as opposed to flavours imparted from the oak. Made by the Gallardo family in partnership with Moët Hennessy, Volcan is a new boutique brand that sees agave grown in different soils (highlands and lowlands), processed separately, then blended together. It might sound needlessly complicated, but the proof is in the distinct floral, herbal, pepper and fruit notes that make for luxurious sipping. Volcan makes a second product — a “Cristallino,” which is briefly aged and, as such, has more vanilla notes — that hasn’t made it to the LCBO yet but, we trust, will before too long.
For people who prefer their tequila mellow and slightly sweet, Codigo 1530 Reposado (LCBO10127; $89.95) and Codigo 1530 Rosa (LCBO 10122; $86.95) are just the ticket. Founded by Cabo San Lucas resident Federico “Fede” Vaughan and his partner, country singer George Strait, Codigo 1530 is a new company with five expressions. So far, we’ve only got two at the LCBO, a vanillarich reposado with so much caramel it’s hard to believe it isn’t an anejo, and the Rosa, the first pink tequila we’ve ever seen. The hue comes from time spent in red wine barrels from Napa Valley, which, we’re happy to report, doesn’t overwhelm the flavour of soft, sweet deeply-roasted agave.
It’s up to us to make Cinco de Mayo the best made-up holiday again. Armed with knowledge of what we’ve done wrong in the past and better options for the future, I think we can. Or, as the activists say: “Si, se puede.”