Cinco de Mayo
Read about Cinco de Mayo below, then play our Cinco de Mayo game! The clues to the game are in yellow!

  Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May in Spanish. It is a day of celebration of a great battle Mexico won against the French soldiers in 1862. Mexico owed France money and could not pay it back. So, the French decided to take over Mexico. The French army came to Puebla, then a small town near Mexico City. Even though Mexico did not have a large army, many Mexican citizens helped and the French were defeated. A few years later, Mexico won their independence. Their flag is an eagle with a snake with three colors, green, white and red. If you click on the flag, you will see the eagle and the snake.
  Now, every year on the fifth of May, many people in Mexico and in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo with parades, food, music and dancing. Some people dress up as soldiers and pretend to fifth the battle again. When Mexico wins they shout "Viva Mexico", Spanish for "Long live Mexico!"
 
Many people have "fiestas", or a party. At the party, where there is always plenty of food and music, the children play Loteria, a game like bingo; or they take turns hitting a "piñata" with a stick. The piñata is a toy full of candies and treats and when it breaks, all the children share the goodies.




  The music at the parties is usually played by "Mariachi bands". Mariachi is Spanish for musician. They are dressed inn black suites, where sombreros and play guitars, trumpets, violins, maracas and accordions. A sombrero is a large Mexican hat and maracas are Mexican rattles. Sometimes a sombrero is thrown on the ground and the people dance around it stomping their heels on the ground. This is called the Mexican hat dance.

Now that you have read the story, try our game  - just click here.