5 Ways To Celebrate Cinco de Mayo This Year In Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS — Cinco de Mayo falls on a Monday this year, and there are plenty of places to celebrate across the state, likely including your favorite local spot.

Patch has compiled a short list of five places to consider for your celebration, and will share a brief history of the holiday, and why it may be less popular in Mexico than you think.

El Barco

El Barco's Back Bay location will be celebrating all weekend long with tacos, tequila and live DJs. That live DJ will play on Friday and Saturday this weekend, and on Sunday they'll host a day party. On Monday, guests can get free chips and salsa with every dine-in order.

The Rooftop at the Revere Hotel

The rooftop recently reopened for the season, and they'll open for a special Monday this coming week.

From 4 to 10 p.m., the rooftop will host a special event with a curated menu, margarita specials and a DJ, who will play from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information, click here.

Uno Mas

New Braintree Mexican restaurant Uno Mas is in the midst of its five day stretch of Cinco de Mayo themed events.

On Friday, they’ll opening at 3 p.m. with special margarita flights, while Sunday will feature a special brunch menu from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Think guac, queso and, yes, more margaritas.

The Monday Cinco de Mayo celebration starts at noon but really kicks off with a DJ set starting at 5 p.m. and giveaways throughout the night.

Sweet Cheeks

At Sweet Cheeks in Boston, the spot will run a special menu of tacos and margaritas highlighted by a taco tray, which comes with three tacos and a sampling of one of their smoked meats.

Nachos will also be on the menu, as will a special margarita menu ranging from the traditional to the unique, including passion fruit, blackberry and smoked pineapple.

Buttermilk & Bourbon

Both the Watertown and Boston locations will use Cinco de Mayo for a Citrus & Salt menu takeover, complete with a tequila-focused cocktail menu and Mexican-inspired food items.

Think street corn, birria tacos and chilaquiles "nachos".

A Brief History of the Holiday

Though many Americans celebrate the holiday, it's actually rather minor for most of Mexico.

Only one of Mexico’s 31 states — Puebla — celebrates the May 5 holiday to any degree, but in the United States it has become a boozy holiday marked by parades, mariachi music, and traditional Mexican dances and foods.

“It’s very similar to how Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day,” Jody Agius Vallejo, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, told The Associated Press in 2012. “One way they can honor their ethnicity is to celebrate this day, even when most don’t know why.”

Cinco de Mayo observes the date of the Battle of Puebla in 1862, when the outnumbered Mexican army defeated Napoleon III’s powerful French troops, who were occupying the area seeking unpaid debts.

A common misconception confuses the holiday with Mexican Independence Day, or El Día de la Independencia, which is Sept. 16.

The country had already gained its independence from Spain years before the battle of Puebla, which was part of a war the Mexican army historians consider lost to the French.

While a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo has become an important celebration of Mexican heritage and culture in the United States, especially in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Some of the largest Cinco de Mayo festivals are held in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.

The holiday was popularized as a U.S. celebration by Latinos in California and the Pacific Northwest who, upon learning of the Battle of Puebla, formed organizations that raised money for Mexican troops.

Additional reporting from Beth Dalbey.