As clouds faded into sunshine Saturday afternoon, Chicano Caucus and supporters gathered on Low Plaza to celebrate an early Cinco de Mayo with mariachis, dancers, and the New York Times-approved Super Tacos truck from 96th Street.
“The taco truck,” said Chicano Caucus Community Chair Luis Rivera, CC ’11. “The taco truck is key.”
The event served as this year’s largest party for Chicano Caucus, the campus group representing Mexican and Mexican-American students, and as a showcase for everything from Mexican folk music to traditional paper flowers, a row of which festooned Alma Mater’s base.
“It’s really great to have a day when we can share this with the rest of the community,” Caucus Vice Chair Julia Gonzales, CC ’10, said. “It’s really nice to see a variety of people, and not just the usuals.”
“It really gets people involved,” Rivera said of the event’s large scale. “It’s a lot of fun for people from the community and on campus.”
Dihara Jourdain, a 10-year-old who lives on 190th Street, agreed.
“We saw the party,” said Jourdain, who left the piñata-breaking with fists full of candy, “so we came.”
Organizers provided one candy-filled piñata for children to hit, and another—which included money—for older attendees.
“It’s taking me back to my childhood,” said Bianca Isaias, BC ’11, who grew up in Honduras.
Teachers College student Gregory Hallman, a cousin of a Chicano Caucus undergraduate, gave the audience an explanation of the holiday—which is not, as many believe, the Mexican Independence Day. Rather, it marks the unlikely 1862 victory of 4,000 Mexican soldiers against twice as many French. Cinco de Mayo is now more widely celebrated in the United States than in Mexico, and is associated with Mexican pride and heritage.
“We’re proud of those soldiers in the same way we’re proud of the American soldiers who have given their lives through the years,” Hallman said.
Dancer Elvira Colorado said she appreciated that the event focused on the historical significance of the day.
“Many times, people forget what we’re actually celebrating,” she said. “It’s not about going to a bar and getting drunk, or having sales.”
Colorado is a member of the Aztec dance group Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Quetzalcoatl In Ixachitlan, or the Group of the Four Directions East of the Continent.
“All of our dances are prayers,” she said.
Other performers ranged from campus dance groups like Sabor, Onyx, and Orisha to such city troupes as the ballet Estampas Folkloricas Mexicanas and the Mariachis Citlalli.
“This is not an event where only Mexican students are doing Mexican things,” Hallman said. “While we have a different culture from them, we have a lot of things in common.”
But it was also an opportunity to educate others about things uniquely Mexican.
“Mexicans, Latinos, we contribute a lot to this country,” said Karina Garcia, CC ’08 and chair of Lucha, mentioning the featured music and food. “Immigrants built this country. This [celebration] is just one part of our contribution.”