As May 5th draws closer, you may find yourself falling prey to the popular myth that Cinco de Mayo originated because a gringo put a lime in a bottle of Corona and yelled Andale! Andale! Arriba! Arriba!
Not only would you be wrong, but you may have watched a wee too much Speedy Gonzales in your childhood. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Or perhaps you’ve fallen prey to this one:
Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellman’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. The “Titanic” was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after New York City.
This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico from NY. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.
The people of Mexico were crazy about mayonnaise and were eagerly awaiting the delivery, so they were disconsolate at their loss. Their anguish was so great that they declared it a National Day of Mourning, and they still observe it to this day.
It is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.
And if you believed that one, as many people who reported it to Snopes, you may need to slow down on those tequila shots. C’mon, Rose and Jack would surely have passed all that mayonnaise as they ran out the ship. And don’t you think James Cameron would have included some great shots of jars of frozen mayonnaise floating in the water? In 3-D no less?
