The University was alive with the sights and sounds of Hispanic history and culture as the UNM community converged on Smith Plaza to celebrate Cinco de Mayo Monday.
"This is in honor of our culture," said David Padilla, co-chairman of UNM's chapter of MEChA, a national student organization designed to educate the masses about the Chicano movement. "Cinco de Mayo is about paying respect to our ancestors who have come before us, and is important for the Hispanic society as it reminds us of where we came from."
The campus celebrations included performances by traditional folklorico and flamenco dancers, informational booths and Mexican food. The event was especially important, Padilla said, as it not only increased awareness for other cultures about what it means to be Hispanic, but it served to erase the negative stereotypes surrounding the annual tradition.
Frederico Reade, a graduate student at UNM, agreed saying that after the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, many in the mainstream public ridiculed and made a satire of Cinco de Mayo.
He said that once the Chicano Movement began, college students played an important role in transforming the importance of Cinco de Mayo and making it a source of pride for Hispanics everywhere.
"Cinco de Mayo is a means of defining who we are as a people of the Southwest," Reade said. "It makes me proud to see the Chicano community striving to make society more informed about our past and give them insight into our culture."
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Cinco de Mayo's history has its roots in the French occupation of Mexico, which took shape in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. After that war, Mexico entered a period of national crisis during the 1850s. Years of not only fighting the Americans but also a civil war, had left Mexico devastated and bankrupt.
The holiday commemorates the victory of Mexican soldiers over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Susan Yara, a UNM junior and member of UNM's Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar chapter, one of the organizations sponsoring the event, said to her, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the Hispanic culture's roots and serves as a reminder of the hardships that Hispanics have endured through the years.
"This is a great way to celebrate the richness of the Spanish culture," Yara said. "It is important to raise awareness of all the cultures that exist, especially in a region that is so ethnically diverse as New Mexico."
Juanito del Pueblo, a graduate student at UNM, said that while the celebration of Cinco de Mayo is pivotal in maintaining the Chicano culture, he would like to see more events like it on campus that honor the richness of all the cultures in New Mexico.
"It is nice to have an event like this, but it is a shame that the Hispanic culture, and all cultures for that matter, aren't celebrated more, especially at a university like UNM that is supposed to represent this diversity," del Pueblo said.
