HALF STEP DOWN, a local, high-energy blues and rock band, will perform at a “Dos de Mayo” celebration at 9 p.m., Sat., May 2, at the La Casa Tapatia restaurant in La Center, 121 E. 4th St., La Center.
Hoping to celebrate the upcoming Cinco de Mayo holiday locally? La Casa Tapatia, a Mexican restaurant in downtown La Center, can help you get started a few days early.
On Sat., May 2, La Casa Tapatia – located at 121 E. 4th St., La Center – will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a “Dos de Mayo” celebration. Half Step Down, a local, high-energy blues and rock band, will perform at 9 p.m. that day. There will be prizes, drink specials and a party atmosphere at the La Center restaurant throughout the day.
Three days later, La Casa Tapatia kicks into high gear again with a Cinco de Mayo celebration on Tues., May 5. There’s no band planned for the Cinco de Mayo party, but there will be food and drink specials and prizes.
As it turns out, both dates have historical significance. Dos de Mayo marks the 1808 rebellion in Madrid against French Imperial forces. Napoleon Bonaparte’s army had occupied the major Spanish city for more than a month when the uprising occurred.
Although the rebels met with death and repression after the Dos de Mayo fighting, historians mark May 2 as a critical day for sparking more uprisings across Spain. The date is now a public holiday in Madrid and was commemorated in the famous Spanish artist, Goya’s painting, “The Charge of the Mamelukes.”
Cinco de Mayo marks another important date in history. Again, the fighting included natives rising up against occupying French forces, but this time the rebellion was in Mexico – 54 years after the Dos de Mayo rebellion.
Many people in the United States mistake Cinco de Mayo (the fifth of May) for Mexico’s important Day of Independence, which is actually celebrated in September. Instead, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Not an official national holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is mostly celebrated in the Mexican city of Puebla, where the actual battle occurred. And, of course, it is widely celebrated in the United States, where people gather to watch parades, listen to mariachi music, eat Mexican food and celebrate the rich diversity of Mexican-American culture.
