Bloggers of the World Unite: Starting the year of the Ox

Note: It’s been many months since we’ve featured our perennial post highlighting blog posts that have caught our eye. As an experiment this week we’ll be running this feature daily. We hope you enjoy it.

So without further ado…

• A pictorial look at Chinese New Year celebrations in Mexico City.
• Inquiring minds want to know: who is that man cavorting with Ingrid Betancourt in Miami?
• Remembering a dark day in Peruvian history: the 1983 massacre of eight journalists in the highlands.
• Could putting the next season of the “Real World” in Cancún improve Mexico’s tourism troubles?
• Lastly, why Lionel Messi is one of the world’s best futbolistas:
  

Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Gawker, Soccer by Ives, La Plaza, Memory in Latin America, Guanabee, YouTube

Happy Three Kings Day! (Now go shopping)

Today is the Christian feast of the Epiphany were it's said that God revealed Himself in the form of Jesus Christ. This day is celebrated in several Latin American countries as Three Kings Day. Particularly in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, the holiday is celebrated with the giving of sweets and gifts to children (instead of on Christmas Day).

Much like the commercialization of Christmas, Three Kings Day has gradually turned into an occasion for shopping. Wal-Mart has led the push this year with a nationwide promotional campaign. Yet smaller retailers are also trying to recoup losses in the midst of a recession as well as take advantage of Latino consumers:

"It used to be that after Christmas, everything was pretty much dead," says Ignacio Hernandez, CEO of MexGrocer.com, which began offering the traditional Rosca de Reyes (King's cake) five years ago. "Now it's still busy.”

For the first time, actors dressed as the three wise men began wandering through Florida Mall in Orlando on Sunday and posing with children for photos on a repurposed Santa display. "Now we have three thrones," laughs general manager Brian Peters.

If you're in New York City and not in the mood for crass shopping the 32nd Annual Three Kings Day Parade will be held in East Harlem. Several prominent politicos will be there honing their broken Spanish but more importantly it will be a celebration with floats, festivities, and even camels.

The Three Kings Day Parade starts at 11 a.m. at 106th Street and Third Avenue. The parade’s “three kings”/grand marshals will be New York Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, Hispanic Federation founder Luis Miranda, and Nuyorican poet Jesus “Papoleto” Melendez.

Image- daylife.com (“Men with large masks representing kings lead the annual Three Kings Day Parade (Dia de los Reyes), 05 January 2006, in the East Harlem section of New York.”)
Online Sources- Gothamist, El Museo del Barrio, New York Daily News, USATODAY.COM MyDesert.com, elboricua.com, Wikipedia

The first Thanksgiving was "Tejano"?

There are numerous myths surrounding what is professed to be the first Thanksgiving holiday in 1621. For instance, the occasion was marked by three days of “drinking, gambling, athletic games, and even target shooting with English muskets” and the noshing of venison and cod.

There’s the belief, however, that the first Thanksgiving was not celebrated in New England but thousands of miles away in present-day Texas. No, I’m not joking:

Penny Colman uses this question as a premise for her book. The result is "Thanksgiving: The True Story," a collection of her research in very readable text augmented with charts, maps and pictures. Readers 8-14 will find much information for their own enjoyment and research.

Many debate where the first Thanksgiving took place.

For example, in 1598, a Spanish explorer, Juan de Onate, settled in present-day New Mexico. The account of the settlement's "thanksgiving" was recorded by poet Perez de Villagra in 1610. People in the area consider it the "first Thanksgiving." A re-enactment of Onate's settlement is held annually in San Elizario, Texas.

The Texas Society Daughters of American Colonists in Palo Duro Canon, Texas, declare their location as the "first." In Florida, both La Caroline and St. Augustine believe their cities were the earliest places of celebration.

Image- Product Reviews
Sources- Deseret News, Neatorama

Cinco de Mayo...revisited

Today is the celebration of Cinco de Mayo; the commemoration of the Mexican victory over the French in 1862’s Battle of Puebla, not Mexico’s Independence Day. (That would be on September 16^th).

For some, the date is used to enjoy cheap margaritas and getting wasted. For our part, we’re going to reproduce part of last year’s Cinco de Mayo post and look at several other important military battles in the history of Latin America:

* Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot (1802) - One of the first major battles in the Haitian Revolution. Though the French would win the battle, Haitian rebels ultimately prevailed after the French suffered massive losses.

* Battle of Chacabuco (1817) - Despite being outnumbered by nearly a 3:1 margin, Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O’Higgins led Chilean forces against the Spanish in this battle fought just outside Santiago.

* Battle of Boyacá (1819) - El Libertador Simón Bolivar commanded about 3000 soldiers including “a small British Legion” in this battle which would assure independence for Nueva Granada.

* Battle of Ayacucho (1824) - This was the decisive battle for Peru’s independence; as a result of the Independence army’s victory, Spanish forces agreed to leave Peru.

* Battle of Cerro Corá (1870) - The final battle in the brutal War of the Triple Alliance which would lead to Brazilian occupation of Paraguay for several years.

* Battle of Celaya (1915) - “The single bloodiest battle of the Mexican Revolution” which led to the beginning of the end for Pancho Villa’s forces.

* Battle of Carrizal (1916) - Battle between U.S. Expeditionary Forces and Pancho Villa’s troops nearly led to a war between Mexico and their northern neighbors.

* Battle of Yaguajay (1958) - A turning point in the Cuban revolution; the battle was won by rebel forces led by Fidel Castro and would soon lead to the end of Fulgencio Batista’s rule in Cuba.

Image- Everyday Weekender

Sources- History.com, The Latin Americanist, Vivrlatino, PBS, Wikipedia