For many UA students, today's celebration of Cinco de Mayo offers another chance to party and drink beer. But the holiday actually commemorates the defeat of the French army at Puebla, Mexico, by poorly armed Mexican citizens.
Steven Carrillo, an engineering junior, said the holiday doesn't mean anything to him. He said he thinks it's celebrated to give partygoers another chance to drink beer.
"It's just another holiday made up by Corona," said Steven Carrillo, engineering junior. "It's more associated with booze and Mexican beer being cheaper."
But the reason for the holiday isn't so people can have another beer-chugging experience.
After England, Spain and France collected debts the Mexicans owed them, England and Spain withdrew, while France wanted to establish territory in Mexico to expand its empire. It planned to install Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Napoleon III's relative, as ruler of Mexico.
But France was unsuccessful in installing Maximilian as it encountered General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin's army.
On May 5, 1862, about 4,500 Mexican poorly armed men from General Seguin's army beat a French army of 6,500 at the Battle of Puebla, a city about 100 miles east of Mexico City.
Anna O'Leary, a Mexican American studies adjunct lecturer, said the holiday is significant because the militiamen, consisting of peasants and working-class people, beat a structured and well-armed French army.
"It invokes sympathy and respect for the average person," she said.
To a lot of Mexican nationals, it was a big victory, O'Leary said, because it gave them the courage to drive out the French army a year later and build their country.
Comparing the Battle of the Puebla to the Boston Tea Party, O'Leary said the resistance and courage encountered in both situations was the motivation that led the natives to fight for freedom and liberty from the French and English imperialists.
"It's a story against imperialism; it makes a great history," she said.
But, O'Leary said that despite the recognition of the event, especially around the border and in the states, many people still don't know why it is celebrated.
"A lot of people think it's like the Fourth of July," said O'Leary.
Engineering junior Laura Hernandez who was born in Mexico, said she isn't sure what the holiday is about.
"I think it's more of an American holiday," Hernandez said. "I don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo."
O'Leary agreed, saying that the holiday is catered more to the American taste of partying, dancing and listening to Mexican music.
"Different people celebrate it different ways," she said.