One of the great aspects about living in the United States is that this country celebrates other cultures and remembers the importance of heritage, values, and triumphs.

The celebration of Cinco de Mayo is not only a huge celebration of culture for Mexicans and Americans, but also a reason to remember one of the greatest achievements for Mexico.

MECHA, the Mexican-American Club on campus, will be celebrating all week-long at BC and will be trying to get students of all ethnicities and backgrounds involved in the celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

Francisco Mejia, 26, is treasurer of the MECHA club and is very involved with the history of Cinco de Mayo and the festivities going on around the campus.

“Cinco de Mayo started in Puebla, a state in Mexico, when the French fought the Mexican government,” Mejia explained.

“The significance of Cinco de Mayo is that the smaller army, which was the Mexicans, defeated the French and were able to kick Napoleon Bonaparte out of Mexico.”

Cinco de Mayo is not defined as a Mexican independence day, but a day to celebrate that the French, who had a more refined army, couldn’t overthrow the Mexican people.

“It was significant because of the importance that Mexico wasn’t supposed to win the battle, because they were an unprepared army, and that’s why we celebrate it today as a triumph,” said Mejia.

Samuel Bautista, 40, president of the MECHA club, shared the importance of Cinco de Mayo and how significant it is to Mexican-Americans.

“The French were a sophisticated army, and they were better armored and equipped than the Mexicans, and that’s why they thought they were going to win,” Bautista said. “Being of that descent, it’s important because, if the French would’ve won, how would we be today? What would our culture be today?  We wouldn’t be speaking Spanish, we would be speaking French.  That may have altered the whole Mexican and American war, and I think that affects everybody in the United States.”

MECHA is proudly celebrating its culture around campus with others to show students how important it is to celebrate the holiday.

“At MECHA, we are having a week-long event where we’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

“We are playing a Mexican game called Loteria, which is Mexican bingo,” Bautista said.  “On Wednesday, we are having a car show, and on Thursday, we are having Aztec dancers.

“We’re hoping that everybody can attend and help celebrate.”