Take a look at the above calendar of Mexican Holidays. Take a closer look. What’s missing? Mexico’s America’s favorite holiday: Cinco de Mayo. Or as they refer to it in Mexico: Cinco de Drinko. That is because Mexicans get a good laugh at the Americans who believe Cinco de Mayo is an important Mexican holiday and celebrate it by drinking their max of margaritas.

For the real meaning of Cinco de Mayo, read our posts from last year on this American celebration: 5 things you didn’t know about Cinco de Mayo and Why we shouldn’t celebrate 5 de Mayo.

But since many teachers continue to celebrate this date as the day they teach about Hispanic Culture, we hope to provide some resources that all teachers can use to make learning meaningful.

1. Check out our 10 Misconceptions about the Spanish language and its Speakers

This FREE Powerpoint has 10 True/False statements with an explanation for each answer. Great lesson for any age/subject.

2. For cultural images please see our Hispanic Country/Culture Board on our Pinterest page.
If you are on Pinterest you may have seen a version of this picture going around, we just made a new commentary for it…

3. Download our FREE Hispanics in the USA lesson that includes information about the Hispanic Population from the 2010 U.S. Census and also information about the Foreign-Born population living in the United States. According to the census, 16.3% of the total population is Hispanic, which is 43% growth since 2000. This rate of growth is a reason why Hispanics are projected to account for 30% of the population by 2050.

4. Check out the Trending Topics in Mexico on Twitter on May 5th and you can read what Mexicans really think about the “holiday”. Just change your Trending location to Mexico, you can even choose Mexico City or Monterrey. We will be posting our favorites on this site as well.
If you are a tuitero, post a fact about Mexico using the hastag #MoreThanSombreros

5. This article by Sudie Hofmann, titled Rethinking Cinco de Mayo, talks about the stereotype images of sombreros, cactus, chile peppers, and maracas and the insult it does to an entire population. Very good read.

6. To see images of real authentic Hispanic food, you can purchase our Mexican Food Powerpoint, right now at a special price of $0.99. Great lesson for Spanish classes.

Do you know what a torta is? What is on a Mexican taco? Can you make juice out of tuna? Is mole a small mammal or a chocolate sauce? See examples of all of these foods and more.

7. And if you are interested in Mexico’s actual Independence, we encourage you to read our post on el Deiciseis de Septiembre, where you can stock up on materials for next September, including these FREE laminas/posters with details on El Grito and other Independence information.

Finally, we’d like to offer another comparison to the celebrations of Cinco de Mayo. Last year, we compared Americans celebrating 5 de Mayo to a Mexican celebrating a victory by the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. Both the Confederates and the Mexicans went on to lose the war they were fighting in.

This year, we want to talk about regional holidays. Cindo de Mayo is a regional holiday celebrated in the area of PUEBLA, Mexico. For the rest of Mexico, there is no celebration. There is no day off of school. There is no parade. Many states in the United States have their own regional celebrations/holidays as well. The people in Illinois may know what Casimir Pulaski Day is, and in fact, may have a day off a school. In the 49 other states, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who knew who Pulaski was. Now, imagine if the country to our north, Canada, celebrated Casimir Pulaski Day as a huge “American” Holiday and if most Canadians thought it was our Independence Day. How would that make you feel? What would that make you think of the Canadian people who celebrate it?

Algunos Tuits Tempranos:

Enrique Aquino ‏ @Enrique_Aquino
El 5 de mayo se celebra el 150 aniversario de la batalla de Puebla donde las fuerzas armadas mexicanas vencieron al ejército francés.

Dr.Juan M Zunzunegui ‏ @JMZunzu
Festejar el “TRIUNFO” dl 5 de mayo es como celebrar q se gana el primer tiempo de un partido de fútbol, que al final pierdes contra Francia

Barbs Arenas ‏ @BarbsArenas
¿Qué se festeja el 5 de Mayo? Mmm… la batalla de? mmm.. aah el cumpleaños de mi mami!

Ϻʀ.Diego Ϻеʀiɴo ‏ @DiegOzadOrm
i don’t get it, why do americans think we celebrate ”5 de mayo” ?

Thalia ‏ @Thaliateama
Pues a mi solo me importa que el 5 de Mayo es el cumpleaños de @ArantxaRaga YA CASI HERMOSHI:3