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What Is Cinco de Mayo?

It's about a fight that gave heart to Mexico
(and help to Abraham Lincoln)

Unless you're of Mexican descent, or celebrate Dutch Liberation Day, May 5 is probably just another day. Yet for Mexicans and friends of Mexico, May 5 is, literally, Cinco de Mayo--a national holiday and day of pride.

Cinco de Mayo does not celebrate Mexico's independence from Spain, as many Americans assume. But it does celebrate how the Mexicans beat the French (and influenced the American Civil War), before the French roared back and put an Austrian emperor in Latin America. Clear? Read on.

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