Cinco de Mayo Festival 2012

El Barrio, Manhattan, New York City, Sunday, May 6, 2012

Photos and text by Ismael Núñez

It takes place on May 5th of every year! Here's how it's described by Wikipedia: Cinco de Mayo celebrated in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (English: The Day of the Battle of Puebla). The date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin. Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day-the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico-which is actually celebrated on September 16.

In East Harlem the Mexican Community is growing each day.  At 116 Street between Lexington and First Avenue one notices the Mexican Restaurants and Mexican Businesses in the area.  The area is often called "Little Zapata". In 2012, the celebration took place on Sunday May 6th. As in every Latin Festival there was food, music, most importantly stuff for children to do and have fun!