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- Kreitner Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreitner Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreitner Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Food at Kreitner’s Cinco de Mayo Festival and Celebration / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Bottles for the Bottle Dance (La Baile de los Botellas) / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Sauce and salsa at Kreitner’s Cinco de Mayo Festival and Celebration / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreinter Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- The crowd at Kreitner Elementary school for the 15th annual Cinco de Mayo Festival and Celebration / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreinter Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreinter Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreitner Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
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- Kreinter Dancers / Photo by Roger Starkey
Hundreds of people packed the Kreitner Elementary School gym Monday for the school’s 15th annual Cinco de Mayo Festival and Celebration.
The Kreitner Dancers entertained the crowd, performing seven dances while wearing traditional costumes that were accumulated throughout the years. More than 150 students began practicing their routines in January in preparation for the event. The students gave up recess two times per week to practice.
After the dance presentation, attendees bought books at the book fair, which raised money for the Kreitner’s library and for student activities, and ate Mexican food. In addition to students and family, several members of the Unit 10 administration and school board attended the event.
Instead of celebrating the day as Cinco de Mayo, I believe our students would be better educated if they were taught to celebrate some other important things that occurred on this day. For example, May 5 is set aside as Children’s Day to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness. It’s observed by a billion people in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. And what about Europe Day, the holiday that celebrates formation of The Council of Europe? This one promotes cooperation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It’s celebrated in 47 nations by 800 million people. Public schools also ignore Liberation Day in Ethiopia, Denmark and The Netherlands. This one celebrates the day that German and Italian forces surrendered at the end of World War II. Ethiopia also celebrates Patriots’ Victory Day on May 5. It Commemorates Ethiopian patriots who resisted the Italian invasion leading up to WW II. Notably, WW II victory in Europe is celebrated all over the world on days near May 5. In the U.S., it officially is recognized as May 8 but most schools ignore it.
Arguably, these are at least as important as the revered Mexican holiday. By comparison, Cinco de Mayo celebrates a one-day gunfight that was not a major strategic win in the war against the French. Instead, this day celebrates a morale boost to the Mexican army and generally is observed only in the Mexican state of Puebla – and of course U.S. schools. Regarding the strategic victory, the Monroe Doctrine deserves most of the credit. Ironically, France was our friend during the American Revolution and neutral during the Civil War when the Mexican skirmish occurred. The Monroe doctrine also was diplomatically responsible for retaining France as an ally through the wars. It makes me wonder why we’d celebrate a victory over an important ally. I’m sure others have holidays for which they wish recognition but these are the ones I wish schools would teach our students on May Fifth. Since none of these things are known by our students, perhaps the goal is to indoctrinate rather than educate.