No, it’s not Mexico’s Independence Day (that would be September 16). Yes, it’s way more popular in the U.S. than it is in Mexico; you can thank the Chicano Movement of the mid-20th century for that. While now it’s mostly an excuse for Americans to party, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The victory didn’t even preserve Mexican independence for long, as France soon after took Mexico City and established the