Cinco de Mayo: Six fun facts about the Fifth of May

3. How did it start?

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP/file
Is all the pomp of Cinco de Mayo – including the 18th Annual National Cinco de Mayo Festival in Washington last year – thanks to a few California college students?

Although Mexican immigrants observed Cinco de Mayo here as far back as the 1860s, some researchers have traced the first recognized festival to a group of California college students searching for a meaningful way to celebrate their Mexican heritage in the 1960s.

Thanks to commercialism, some say Cinco de Mayo since has gone the way of St. Patrick’s Day and become nothing more than an excuse to party. Community organizations in several cities are working to reclaim the holiday from commercialism.

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