Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Ok--I know that cinco de mayo was yesterday and it's now seis de mayo! Oh well! I love cinco de mayo, probably because I love the Mexican and latino cultures. I especially love it when I ask my ESL students who are from Mexico what cinco de mayo celebrates and they don't know. Ok, I'll be nice, half did and half didn't. I guess there are some Americans who don't know their history, though, too! But it that REALLY bugs me since I'm such a history buff.

We had a little cinco de mayo party in our ESL class yesterday (well, the girls did, the boys just sat there and wouldn't even eat the great food the girls made). I made horchata, a yummy traditional drink of rice and cinnamon (the boys did drink my horchata, though).

I really love how different cultures here in the U.S. are trying to keep their cultural identities in tact. Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case. For example, many years ago, when a Mexican family immigrated to the U.S. and their children were born here, those children never learned to speak their parents language, Spanish in this case. They were completely assimilated into this culture, forgetting their traditions, only speaking English, etc. The same was happening with many Native American cultures, as well. But now these different groups are keeping their traditions and languages alive in their children and their children's children, for which I say, BRAVO!! I mean, what an asset to speak two languages and to know why you do! We are suppose to be a melting pot, so, I feel we need to embrace all the cultures that are here and try to respect their traditions. We definitely enjoy them--look at how many non-hispanic Americans have embraced and celebrate cinco de mayo!