Buenos Dias, Cinco de Mayo...

My mother is Puerto Rican, but she played it down quite a bit when she married my German/Canadian father.

I was born in New Jersey, but we moved to Connecticut roughly two weeks later. Even though we moved around a bit more after my sister was born, I stayed in the Nutmeg State until I moved to Boston for school.

I bring this up because I never really experienced the Puerto Rican culture, cuisine or traditions growing up.

I've come to embrace my heritage, and learn more of it when I can. Mrs. Adorkification (who's French-Canadian on both sides, although she can trace her mother's lineage all the way back to a French province...which is way cool) has supported my ethnicity, even making the occasional traditional meal.

One thing I'm very interested in is that the Latino/Hispanic community is made up of many different countries.

There's Spain, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Cuba just to name a few.

Different, yet similar.

And then there's Mexico, which is where this specific holiday comes from.

See, Mexico became an independent country on this day back in 1862.

So even though people will celebrate today with some form of alcohol...from Sangria to Corona to Margarita...it should be acknowledged that this is a Mexican holiday, not a Hispanic one.

By the way...Mexico gained it's independence by defeating the French.

I think I'll mention it to Mrs. A before going in to work...