Muddy Cinco de Mayo

My first career was meteorology. I was trained by the U.S. Air Force, then I continued that training while working for the National Weather Service, a part of NOAA. So I had years and years to learn about climatological shifts; how there are cycles within cycles, and why it’s so hard to pinpoint what is really a shift in the norm, or just a change from what we remember. We are forced to use humans’ faulty memory – dependably error-prone.

I thus create rules-of-thumb for myself, and remember the rules instead of trying to recall the actual weather history. One of the most reliable in Portland (I moved here in 2007) has been to not expect summer weather until July 5th. That allows for the 4th of July celebrations to get rained out and ruined pretty much every single year, and for Mother Nature to call, “Ha ha!” when she brings out the sunshine the next day.

Our summers are typically very, very dry. Our winter rains can begin as early as September, but it’s usually not till October and sometimes November, before the real rain settles in. Then…it does not stop raining again until July 5th. Oh, we get the occasional unexpected warm and sunny days in there, now and again, but don’t get your hopes up. Be patient, and wait, because if you are hoping for a warm and sunny holiday to celebrate Mexican traditions, you will be sadly disappointed.

Cinco de Mayo is translated as The Fifth of May. The holiday commemorates a Mexican military victory against the French army. Mexicans at the time were so proud of this victory, that some left the United States to go to Mexico and fight. Eventually, the country gained its independence, which is celebrated September 16. Today in Mexico, the holiday of Cinco de Mayo is only commemorated by a couple of military demonstrations in a couple of communities, while the rest of the country mostly ignores it. This is unlike the independence day celebrations, which are huge and country-wide and the planning and preparation lasts weeks as we noticed last year during our vacation there.

You are aware that St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday originating in Ireland, is celebrated in many countries. Interestingly, the Mexican military victory of May 5th is celebrated widely in the United States! It’s huge here. Every city celebrates, if only as a way to sell Mexican-American food and drinks. Most places have more, like dances and parades. Portland has a three-day Cinco de Mayo festival downtown on the waterfront.

Remember how I began by talking about weather? And how my seasonal rule each year is not to expect summer weather too early? It served us all when we went to the Cinco de Mayo festival this month. Though the mud and the cold and rain were not fun at all, none of us was particularly surprised or disappointed. We just enjoyed what we could, then left. Shivering and feet soaked with puddle water and caked in mud.

As you can see from the images, the place was empty when we arrived late morning. More people showed up by afternoon, but it was a disappointing crowd for the organizers, I am sure. It rained off and on, was windy and quite cold the entire day. We played a few games, we watched some boxing matches, we ate delicious food. Still we were ready to leave early and go home and warm up. We chose to skip the rides altogether.

There is one thing we all enjoyed quite a bit, and that was the dancing demonstrations from a Danza Azteca group. Thankfully, the performance stage was under a large tent so there was no rain on the performers. There were dancers, drummers, percussionists and a flautist. They performed traditional Mayan dances, but also other traditional Mexican dances, with women holding clay pots, old men wobbling on canes, and a fierce bull.

Maybe next year the sun will shine for the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta. I won’t hold my breath.