Cinco de Mayo is celebrated throughout North America and other parts of the world. The general misconception is that May 5 is Mexico’s Independence Day. In fact, the holiday is to commemorate pride, strength, and leadership shown by the Mexican forces leading up to the French occupation of Mexico, in particular at the Batalla de Puebla. This battle and the French occupation that followed created several important cultural and political impacts for Mexico and the United States which was dealing with its own civil war at the time.

The Grupo Folklórico del Pueblo has put together a fully researched and cited fact sheet about Cinco de Mayo that can be used by educators, or anyone, to discuss the real meaning of Cinco De Mayo.