140 Fun Facts About Cinco De Mayo

The Spanish word 'sombrero' comes from 'sombra', which means what?

Shade is what 'sombra' means, so a sombrero is a shade-maker; in Spanish the word covers a hat of any kind, and the wide-brimmed Mexican one worn at Cinco de Mayo parties is a sombrero de charro.

Which two European powers joined France's 1861 Mexico expedition but pulled out before the fighting?

Britain and Spain signed the 1861 Convention of London with France, then negotiated with Mexico and withdrew in the spring of 1862, once it was clear France meant to stay and overthrow the Mexican government.

In his victory dispatch from Puebla, Zaragoza wrote that the French troops had fought how?

With valour, he reported, though he added that their commander had acted clumsily; the dispatch opens with the line that the national arms had covered themselves in glory, later printed beside his portrait on Mexico's 500-peso note.

When is Mexican Independence Day celebrated?

September 16 marks the 1810 call to arms in Dolores; the celebration starts the night before, when Mexico's president repeats the cry from the balcony of the National Palace to the crowds packing the Zócalo.

Which French ruler ordered the invasion of Mexico that led to the Battle of Puebla?

Napoleon III saw a chance to plant a French-backed empire in Mexico while the United States was tied down by its Civil War; once that war ended, American pressure helped push the French out.

The Mexican general who won the Battle of Puebla was born in what is now which US state?

Texas was still part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas when Ignacio Zaragoza was born there in 1829; his family moved south to Matamoros while he was a boy, and a state historic site now marks his birthplace.

The word 'burrito' literally means what in Spanish?

Burrito is the diminutive of burro, Spanish for donkey, so it means little donkey; one popular theory says the name refers to the way a stuffed tortilla carries a load like a pack animal.

What is a piñata traditionally made of?

Papier-mâché or clay pot: the classic piñata is a clay olla dressed in coloured paper, and its name probably comes from an Italian word for a pot, though most are now made of cardboard and papier-mâché.

Benito Juárez, Mexico's president during the Battle of Puebla, belonged to which Indigenous people?

Zapotec peasants were his parents in the mountains of southern Mexico; Juárez trained as a lawyer and, as president, led the republic that outlasted the French invasion.

Which hilltop residence did Emperor Maximilian remodel as his home, linking it to Mexico City by a grand boulevard?

Chapultepec Castle, a former military academy on the city's edge, became Maximilian's residence in 1864; the straight boulevard he ordered to connect it with the centre survives as the Paseo de la Reforma.

Which party snack is named after Ignacio Anaya, the Piedras Negras restaurateur said to have improvised it in the 1940s?

Nachos carry the nickname of Ignacio 'Nacho' Anaya, who is said to have topped fried tortilla pieces with melted cheese and pickled chile slices for American customers at a restaurant in the Mexican border city.

Which Mexican revolutionary raised a southern peasant army to win back village lands?

Emiliano Zapata's southern army seized estates that villagers said had been stolen from them; he was killed in an ambush in 1919, but the land-reform article of the 1917 Constitution answered his demands.

What is the main ingredient in the dough of traditional Mexican tamales?

Corn, treated with lime and ground into the dough called masa, is spread on a husk or leaf, filled and steamed; the firm parcels travel so well that Mesoamerican armies and hunters carried them.

What Mexican folk art tradition involves brightly painted carved wooden animal figures?

Alebrijes began in 1936 as papier-mâché monsters that Mexico City craftsman Pedro Linares said he had seen in a fever dream; carvers in Oaxaca later remade them in copal wood, the version now best known.

Which UNESCO-listed Mexican music uses trumpets, violins, vihuela and a big bass guitar?

Mariachi joined UNESCO's heritage list in 2011; the listing notes that the music is still learned mainly by ear, the skill usually passed from fathers to sons at festive, religious and civil events.

Which elegantly dressed skeleton, etched by José Guadalupe Posada, became a Day of the Dead icon?

La Catrina began as Posada's jab at Mexicans who adopted European fashions over their own traditions, a skull in a fancy hat; a later mural gave her a full body and gown, and revellers now paint their faces as her.

Which Mexican artist painted Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird?

Frida Kahlo began to paint while confined to bed for months after a bus crash at 18 left her in lifelong pain, and she turned again and again to the subject closest to hand, herself.

What deep-bodied six-string bass anchors a traditional Mexican trumpet-and-violin ensemble?

The guitarrón, a very large, deep-bodied six-string bass, supplies the bass line in the ensemble; Ernie Ball bought one in Tijuana and used it as the model for his Earthwood acoustic bass guitar of 1972.

Which Mexican muralist's Rockefeller Center fresco was destroyed in 1934 over a portrait of Lenin?

Diego Rivera added Lenin after a New York paper attacked the mural as 'anti-capitalist propaganda', then refused to paint him out; an assistant's photographs later let him recreate the work in Mexico City.

What is the milky fermented drink made from the sap of the maguey agave?

Pulque is made by fermenting aguamiel, the sap tapped from the heart of the maguey; the Aztecs held the drink sacred, gave it a goddess of its own, Mayahuel, and poured it freely at religious festivals.

Pozole, the Mexican stew ladled out at celebrations, is built around which ingredient?

Hominy, maize kernels soaked in an alkaline bath until they swell and shed their hulls, is simmered with meat in a chile broth; diners finish each bowl themselves with radish, shredded cabbage, oregano and lime.

What ancient civilization built the pyramid of Chichén Itzá in Mexico?

The Maya built Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán; around the spring and autumn equinoxes the late-afternoon sun throws triangles of shadow down the staircase of its main pyramid, like a serpent sliding to the ground.

What is the name of Mexican professional wrestling?

Lucha libre, literally 'free fight', is known for its masked luchadores; a wrestler who stakes his mask on a match and loses must take it off in the ring, seen as the ultimate insult.

Which two Mexican states both claim to be the birthplace of mole?

Puebla and Oaxaca both claim mole: Puebla for mole poblano, the dark chile-and-chocolate sauce, and Oaxaca for its nickname 'land of the seven moles', from negro to amarillo.

Which flower's petals are strewn in paths leading to family altars on Mexico's Day of the Dead?

Marigolds, called cempasúchil or flor de muertos in Mexico, are chosen for their vivid colour and strong scent, which are said to lead the souls of the dead back to the offerings laid out for them.

In Catholic tradition, the seven points of a classic star-shaped piñata stand for what?

The seven deadly sins is the meaning friars gave the points when they turned the game into a lesson in resisting temptation; the blindfold is said to stand for faith.

Which salamander, found in the wild only in the canals of Mexico City, appears on Mexico's 50-peso note?

The axolotl never grows out of its gilled, water-dwelling youth and can regrow lost limbs; invasive fish and a shrinking habitat have left it critically endangered in Xochimilco, its last wild home.

Before attacking Puebla, the French general wrote home that his 6,000 soldiers made him what?

'Master of Mexico' was his boast to the war minister in Paris, resting on what he called French superiority in race and organization; soon afterwards his army was thrown back from Puebla's forts.

Which insects migrate thousands of miles each autumn to winter in central Mexico's highland forests?

Monarch butterflies from the United States and Canada can fly more than 2,000 miles to a few mountain forests in Mexico; the butterflies that set out each autumn are several generations removed from those that left the spring before.

The town that gave tequila its name lies in which Mexican state?

Jalisco's town of Tequila gave the spirit a protected name, much as Champagne did: only spirit made there and in parts of four other Mexican states may legally be sold as tequila.

Who was the father of Mexican independence who issued the Grito de Dolores in 1810?

Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, set off the revolt with his call to arms; defeated within months, he fled north, was captured and shot in Chihuahua in 1811, a decade before independence was won.

What was the name of the Aztec island capital in Lake Texcoco, taken by Cortés in 1521?

Tenochtitlán was destroyed in the 1521 siege and the Spanish built their own capital on top of it, which is why the ruins of the Aztec city, the Templo Mayor among them, lie under the centre of today's Mexico City.

What is a molinillo, the carved wooden tool spun between the palms in Mexican kitchens, used for?

Frothing hot chocolate is the molinillo's job: rolling the handle between the palms spins its carved head and whips the drink into foam, a motion celebrated in a Mexican children's rhyme, and it does the same for atole.

What ancient Mesoamerican process steeps maize in limewater to unlock its nutrition?

Nixtamalization, soaking maize in an alkaline limewater bath, frees niacin the body could not otherwise absorb and loosens the hulls so the kernels can be ground into dough.

What is the name of Puebla's prized blue-and-white glazed pottery, brought by Spanish potters in the 16th century?

Talavera is named for Talavera de la Reina, the Spanish town whose tin-glaze craft the potters carried to Puebla; the name is now protected, so only certified workshops in and around the city may use it.

What happened to Puebla's victorious Mexican general four months after the battle?

He died of typhoid fever in Puebla on 8 September 1862, aged 33; three days later President Juárez renamed the city Puebla de Zaragoza in his honour.

Which Marian apparition, reported on Tepeyac hill in 1531, is Mexico's patroness?

Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have left her image on the cloak of Juan Diego, now enshrined in the basilica at Tepeyac; rebels carried her banner when the independence revolt began in 1810.

What grain is Mexican horchata traditionally made from?

Mexican horchata is made from rice soaked and ground with cinnamon, then sweetened and served over ice; the Spanish original from Valencia uses tiger nuts (chufa) instead.

What is the traditional Mexican game of chance, played like bingo but with 54 illustrated cards?

Lotería's caller announces each card with a riddle or rhyme rather than a number.

Pan de muerto, baked for Mexico's Day of the Dead, is topped with dough strips shaped like what?

Bones are what the strips stand for, often laid in a circle on the round loaf; families set the bread on the home altar for the returning dead as well as eating it themselves.

Which Mexican revolutionary, born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, led the División del Norte?

Pancho Villa led the División del Norte; after his 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico, a US Army expedition hunted him for eleven months and never caught him.

The Battle of Puebla was decided at which two hilltop forts overlooking the city?

Loreto and Guadalupe crowned the heights just north-east of the city; the French spent the day in repeated uphill assaults on them, and every attack failed on slopes that heavy rain had turned to mud.

Which 1848 agreement ended the Mexican-American War and ceded over half of Mexico's territory?

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States 55 percent of Mexico's territory for $15 million; gold had been found at Sutter's Mill in California nine days before it was signed.

The Mexican string cheese quesillo takes its better-known name from which state?

Quesillo is better known as queso Oaxaca, after the state where it was first made; Dominican friars are said to have brought the stretched-curd method, and the cheese is pulled into ribbons and wound up like a ball of yarn.

On Mexico's flag, the eagle devouring a snake stands on which plant?

A prickly pear on a lake island is where, in Aztec legend, the god Huitzilopochtli's promised eagle appeared, showing the wandering Mexica where to build their capital.

A chipotle is which chile pepper after it has been ripened, smoked and dried?

Jalapeño peppers left to redden at the end of the season are smoked for days until nearly all their moisture is gone; the name chipotle joins the Nahuatl words for chile and smoke.

Who held the first known US Cinco de Mayo celebration, in Columbia, California, in 1862?

Miners from Mexico in the Mother Lode camp read the news in a Spanish-language paper and answered with rifle salutes, songs and impromptu speeches; California has marked the day every year since 1863.

What did President Juárez suspend for two years in 1861, prompting three European powers to send warships?

Foreign debt payments were frozen because years of civil war had emptied the treasury; the three creditor governments agreed in London to send a joint force, and one of them stayed on to conquer.

A Paloma cocktail tops tequila with which flavor of soda?

Grapefruit soda, often Squirt, tops the tequila and lime juice; the margarita is better known abroad, but in Mexico itself the Paloma may well be the more popular drink.

The rising threat of which European power helped persuade France to pull its army out of Mexico in 1866?

Prussia's growing army on France's own border made Mexico a costly distraction, so French units began sailing home in 1866; four years later Prussia invaded France and brought down the emperor who had sent them.

After defeating Maximilian's empire, Juárez declared that 'respect for the rights of others' is what?

Peace: 'Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace,' he wrote in the manifesto issued on re-entering the capital in July 1867, a line Mexicans still quote.

Which US secretary of state insisted French withdrawal from Mexico be unconditional?

William H. Seward answered a French request for American neutrality by insisting the withdrawal be unconditional; with the Civil War over, the United States was also letting money and guns reach Mexico's republicans.

Historian Justo Sierra argued that a French win at Puebla would have let France come to the aid of whom?

The Confederacy hoped for French backing, and Sierra reasoned that a quick conquest of Mexico would have left France free to give it; Washington spent the war working to keep Paris neutral.

What is Mexico's full official name?

United Mexican States translates Estados Unidos Mexicanos, the words that arc around the eagle on the national seal, so Mexico, like its northern neighbour, is formally a 'United States'.

Which long-ruling Mexican president, a veteran of the Battle of Puebla, turned Cinco de Mayo into a celebration of his own power?

Porfirio Díaz led cavalry at Puebla as a young officer; in power, historian Kelly Lytle Hernández says, he made the anniversary a celebration of his own reign, marked across Mexico and in Mexican communities in the United States.

Which everyday English food word comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs?

Tomato comes from the Nahuatl tomatl by way of Spanish, as avocado, chocolate and chili do; botanically it is a fruit, though cooks treat it as a vegetable.

Which US general led the 1916 expedition into Mexico that followed a cross-border raid on Columbus, New Mexico?

John J. Pershing led cavalry columns deep into northern Mexico and hunted the raiders for eleven months without catching their leader, a campaign remembered as the Punitive Expedition.

The word 'gringo' probably comes from 'griego', the Spanish word for what?

Greek stood in Spanish for any speech nobody could follow, as in 'it's all Greek to me', and so for foreigners; the tale that gringo comes from US soldiers singing 'Green Grow the Lilacs' has nothing behind it.

After the Battle of Puebla, Mexican Americans in California formed 'juntas patrióticas' that met monthly to do what?

Raise money for Juárez's fight against the French was the juntas' purpose; their speakers used the victory at Puebla as a rallying cry for democracy while the US Civil War was still being fought.

Which two cities held the first organised Cinco de Mayo commemorations in 1863?

Los Angeles and San Francisco both held parades with speakers and music on May 5, 1863, using the anniversary to rally support for democracy while the US Civil War was still being fought.

Which hot sauce, named after a Mexican state, has been made on Avery Island, Louisiana, since 1868?

Tabasco was created by Edmund McIlhenny, whose family still owns and runs the company on the same island; he first sold it in small cologne-style bottles with sprinkler tops, so the sauce came out in drops.

The rise of what in the 1960s made Cinco de Mayo a day of Mexican American pride?

The Chicano Movement's activists took up the day in the 1960s, in part because they identified with Indigenous Mexicans such as President Juárez defeating a European invader.

Chalupas, a favourite snack in Puebla, share their name with a Spanish word for what?

A small boat: chalupa is Spanish for a boat or launch, and Mexican cooks use the same word for a little boat-shaped shell of fried dough piled with toppings.

In 1968, thousands of Mexican American high-school students in California protested against unequal schooling by doing what?

Walking out of class, in a week of protests nicknamed the Blowouts, the students demanded bilingual teaching; police charged 13 organisers with conspiracy, and a teacher among them got his job back only after sit-ins.

Which historic thoroughfare beside Los Angeles's old Plaza hosts folklórico dancing and music each Cinco de Mayo?

Olvera Street runs off the old Plaza and keeps the city's oldest standing house, the Ávila Adobe; a campaign begun in the 1920s to save that house turned the alley into the Mexican marketplace seen today.

Corona, the Mexican beer, takes its name from the Spanish word for what?

Crown is what corona means in Spanish, from the Latin for a garland; the beer is often served with a wedge of lime or lemon pushed into the neck of the bottle to sharpen its taste.

Chichén Itzá's name refers to which natural feature, the source of the city's water and a place of offerings?

A well: the name means 'at the mouth of the well of the Itza', probably after the great sinkhole, or cenote, into which worshippers threw jade and gold; the region's rivers run underground, so sinkholes were the water supply.

What was the name of the Mexican army Zaragoza commanded at Puebla?

Zaragoza resigned as Juárez's minister of war to take command of the Army of the East (Ejército de Oriente), the force that held Puebla's forts on May 5.

Which US president, a believer in Manifest Destiny, took the country to war with Mexico in 1846?

James K. Polk offered to buy California and New Mexico, was refused, and after a border clash asked Congress for war; the settlement that ended it took about half of Mexico's territory.

Which wealthy reformer, jailed for running for president in 1910, then called Mexicans to arms and launched the Revolution?

Francisco Madero, from a rich family of landowners, fled across the US border on his release and named November 20, 1910 as the day to rise; within six months the old regime had fallen, and he was soon president.

Which Union cavalry general massed 50,000 troops on the Mexican border in 1865 to pressure the French to leave?

Philip Sheridan patrolled the border with three army corps and, as he later admitted, left arms and ammunition at convenient places on the American bank of the river for Juárez's forces to collect.

After failing to storm Puebla's forts, the French fell back to which town, namesake of Mexico's highest peak?

Orizaba, the town beneath the volcano of the same name, sheltered the beaten army while it waited for reinforcements, and the French did not take Puebla until the following spring.

Which Mexican general lost a leg fighting the French in 1838 and had the limb buried with military honours?

Santa Anna's shattered leg got a state burial, and he traded on the sacrifice to return to power; when he fell in 1844 a mob dug the limb up and dragged it through the streets.

The fiery habanero chili takes its name from which Caribbean capital?

Havana gave the habanero its name, yet the chili is a staple of Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, where it is farmed commercially today.

Juárez's wartime refuge on Mexico's northern border now bears his name and faces which US city?

El Paso looks across the border at Ciudad Juárez, which was itself called El Paso del Norte until 1888; the president ran his government from there in 1865 and 1866 while the French held the capital.

Mexico's southern land border is shared with Belize and which other country?

Guatemala once reached further: under Spanish rule Chiapas, now Mexico's southernmost state, belonged to the Captaincy General of Guatemala, and it became a Mexican state only in 1824.

Which Aztec emperor welcomed Hernán Cortés into his capital in 1519, only to be taken prisoner?

Moctezuma II tried gifts first to keep the Spaniards away; once inside the city Cortés seized him as a hostage, and the emperor died the next year as his own people rose against the invaders.

What is a corrido, a form that flourished during the Mexican Revolution?

A narrative ballad, the corrido worked as a sung newspaper: its verses carried news of battles, heroes and outlaws from town to town.

Which early civilisation of Mexico's Gulf coast is best known today for its colossal carved stone heads?

Olmec means 'rubber people' in Nahuatl, the Aztecs' name for the Gulf lowlanders who made balls for the ritual ballgame; the heads, up to three metres tall, are thought to portray rulers.

Which French troops, famed for baggy trousers and fezzes, formed the main attack columns at Puebla?

Zouaves in two battalions dropped their packs at the foot of the hill and led the climb; the corps was first raised in Algeria, which is where the North African dress came from.

What does the word 'tortilla' literally mean in Spanish?

Little cake: in Mexico the word names the flat bread at the heart of the kitchen, while in Spain a tortilla is still a thick omelette of eggs and potato.

What does 'pico de gallo', the name of the fresh chopped salsa, literally mean?

Rooster's beak is the literal Spanish; nobody is sure why, though one guess is that chopping the ingredients looks like a bird pecking its food to pieces.

What is a chimichanga, a staple of Mexican restaurants in the American Southwest?

A deep-fried burrito: rival Arizona restaurants in Tucson and Phoenix each claim to have invented it, the Tucson one by dropping a burrito into hot oil by accident.

Which compound gives chili peppers their heat?

Capsaicin, a colourless alkaloid found in the fruits, is a strong irritant rather than a flavour, which is why a chili's heat is felt as a burn.

A quinceañera marks a girl's coming of age on which birthday?

Her fifteenth: quince is Spanish for fifteen, and the day traditionally begins with a Catholic Mass before the party, serving as her formal debut in society.

The rodeo word 'bronco' comes from a Spanish word meaning what?

Wild is the meaning: in Mexican Spanish a potro bronco was an untamed colt, and American ranch hands kept only the adjective.

Mexico's currency, the peso, takes its name from the Spanish word for what?

Weight is the literal meaning: a peso was once a set weight of silver, and the Spanish silver peso circulated so widely that its sign, $, was borrowed for the dollar.

Zaragoza's birthplace, Bahía del Espíritu Santo, is now which town, remembered for an 1836 massacre of prisoners?

Goliad saw hundreds of prisoners of war shot by Mexican troops on Palm Sunday 1836; the future hero of Cinco de Mayo had been born there seven years earlier, the son of a Mexican infantryman.

Which river, known in Mexico as the Río Bravo, forms a long stretch of the US-Mexico border?

Rio Grande is the American name; Mexicans call the same water the Río Bravo, the furious river, and it has marked the frontier since Mexico lost its northern lands in 1848.

What was France's first Mexican intervention, in 1838-39, nicknamed?

The Pastry War is named for a French pastry cook near the capital who claimed that Mexican officers had ruined his shop; France blockaded Mexico's ports in 1838 to collect on his and other claims.

Maximilian of Mexico was the younger brother of which long-reigning European emperor?

Franz Joseph I ruled in Vienna; after the firing squad he sent an admiral to Mexico to bring his brother's body home, and the coffin was laid in the Imperial Crypt in January 1868.

Which Pacific resort city is famous for divers who leap from the cliffs of La Quebrada?

Acapulco's cliff divers perform daily, plunging from the rocks into a narrow inlet where the water is only a few metres deep.

Which French painter made three paintings of Maximilian's execution?

Édouard Manet returned to the scene again and again soon after the news reached Paris, and when he made a print of it the French government's censor suppressed it; it was never published in his lifetime.

From which residence near Trieste did Maximilian sail for Mexico?

Miramare Castle was built for him on the Gulf of Trieste, with a bedroom and study copied from the cabin and wardroom of the frigate Novara, the very ship that carried him to Mexico in 1864.

Chinampas, the Aztec farm plots that survive at Xochimilco, are popularly known as what?

Floating gardens is a misnomer: chinampas never floated but are artificial islands, built up on a shallow lake bed from layers of mud and rotting plants.

Empress Carlota of Mexico, only daughter of King Leopold I, was born a princess of which country?

Belgium's princess sailed back to Europe in 1866 to beg for help for her husband's failing empire, broke down when it was refused, and outlived him by sixty years.

Which Christmas plant, native to Mexico, is named after the first US envoy to the country?

Poinsettia honours Joel Roberts Poinsett, who sent the plant home from Mexico in the 1820s; its red 'petals' are really leaves, which colour only after weeks of long nights.

Why is the Cerro de las Campanas, site of Maximilian's execution, so named?

Its rocks ring like bells when struck, hence the Hill of the Bells; Maximilian handed over his sword on its slopes in May 1867 and faced the firing squad there five weeks later.

Which Mexican Christmas tradition re-enacts Mary and Joseph's search for lodging over nine nights?

Las Posadas means 'the inns': from December 16 to 24 a procession goes from house to house asking for shelter in song, and each night ends with a feast and a star-shaped piñata.

The mustang, the horse of the American West, takes its name from a Spanish word for what?

A stray animal is the root sense, from mestengo, a beast with no owner; the herds descend from domesticated horses the Spanish brought over, so the mustang is formally classed as feral.

How many legionnaires held off some 2,000 Mexican troops at the Battle of Camarón in April 1863?

65 men under Captain Jean Danjou fought for most of the day in a ruined hacienda; about two-thirds of them died, and the Legion still keeps 30 April as its feast day.

What relic of Captain Danjou does the French Foreign Legion venerate?

His wooden hand, made after a misfiring musket cost him the real one in Algeria, was recovered after his last stand at Camarón and is paraded before the Legion every 30 April.

France's invasion of Mexico defied which long-standing US policy?

The Monroe Doctrine went unenforced while the Civil War raged; once the war ended in 1865, Washington invoked it and pressed France to leave, and within two years the French had gone.

The Reform War is also known by what other name?

The Three Years' War pitted liberals against conservatives over the reforming 1857 Constitution; the liberals won, but several of the beaten conservative generals later sided with the French invaders.

Which Caribbean resort city was built from scratch by the Mexican government, starting in 1970?

Cancún was little more than a fishing settlement of about a hundred people when planners chose the site; by the 2020 census the resort city built there held nearly 900,000.

Which ancient city near Mexico City is home to the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon?

Teotihuacán was already a ruin when the Aztecs found it; they gave it the name it has now, and no one knows what its builders called it or what language they spoke.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula is built mostly of adobe, which is what?

Sun-dried mud brick, not stone, makes up the bulk of it, which helps explain how the largest pyramid ever built came to look like an ordinary grassy hill.

What is Puebla's nickname, derived from its colonial name?

Angelópolis, city of angels, comes from the colonial name Puebla de los Ángeles; legend says angels came to a bishop in a dream and showed him where the new city should stand.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula, near Puebla, is the world's largest pyramid by what measure?

Volume is the record: at about 4.45 million cubic metres Cholula's mound has nearly twice the bulk of Giza's Great Pyramid, though Giza is far taller; builders kept enlarging it for about a thousand years.

What did the Spanish build on top of the Cholula pyramid in 1594?

A church, the sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, has crowned the mound since 1594; the overgrown pyramid looks like a hill, and the shrine on top is one reason it has never been fully dug out.

Iztaccíhuatl, the snowy twin of Popocatépetl, has a Nahuatl name that means what?

White woman is the meaning, from iztāc, white, and cihuātl, woman: its four snowy summits trace the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeper, hence the nickname Sleeping Woman.

What is the high saddle linking Popocatépetl to its twin Iztaccíhuatl called?

The Paso de Cortés takes its name from the conquistador, who led his army over the saddle in 1519 on the march to the Aztec capital; today a road over it is the gateway to the volcanoes' national park.

Which car was built at Volkswagen's Puebla plant until 2003?

The Beetle's last original rolled off the Puebla line on 30 July 2003, six years after the same plant had begun building its retro successor, the New Beetle; the design went back to 1938.

Fajita is a diminutive of 'faja', a Spanish word meaning what?

A strip or belt: the name comes from the beef skirt, a long band of meat once handed to ranch hands as a throwaway cut, which they grilled and sliced.

Mole poblano is traditionally served over which bird?

Turkey is native to the Americas: today's farm turkeys descend from a Mexican bird carried to Europe in the early 1500s, and mole poblano was traditionally ladled over it.

In the best-known legend, who improvised mole poblano when an archbishop came to visit?

Convent nuns in Puebla, the story goes, panicked at the visit and ground together what little they had: chiles, nuts, spices, stale bread and a little chocolate; a rival tale credits a friar whose spices spilled into the pot.

Chiles en nogada were reputedly first made to honour which general of Mexican independence?

Agustín de Iturbide passed through Puebla with his army on the way to the capital, and legend says the dish was created to entertain him; the following year he was crowned emperor of Mexico.

What are chiles en nogada topped with besides the walnut cream sauce?

Chiles en nogada are finished with pomegranate seeds and parsley over the walnut cream, giving the red and green of the flag; the poblano chiles are stuffed with a fruit-laced picadillo.

What is a cemita, Puebla's signature sandwich, served on?

A sesame-seed roll, itself called a cemita, gives the sandwich its name: in Puebla the word means the bread first and the sandwich built on it second.

Tacos al pastor derive from which dish that immigrants brought to Mexico?

Lebanese lamb shawarma came with immigrants in the early twentieth century; in Mexico the lamb gave way to pork in a red chile marinade, with a slice of pineapple on top.

Guacamole comes from the Nahuatl āhuacamōlli, which joins the word for avocado with a word for what?

Sauce is the second half: mōlli is the same Nahuatl word that gives Mexican cooking its moles, so guacamole is literally 'avocado sauce'.

The margarita cocktail shares its name with the Spanish word for which flower?

Daisy is what margarita means in Spanish, and an older family of cocktails was called the Daisy, so one theory makes the margarita simply a tequila daisy under its Spanish name.

Which liqueur joins tequila and lime in a classic margarita?

Triple sec, a clear orange liqueur, completes the classic three-part recipe; the name began as a trademark and became the general word for the style, which includes Cointreau.

Agua de Jamaica, a deep-red drink sold across Mexico, is brewed from which flower?

Hibiscus, specifically the fleshy red calyx of the roselle, gives the drink its tart, cranberry-like taste; for all its Mexican fame the plant is African in origin.

Which Mexican beer overtook Bud Light as the top US seller by retail dollars in May 2023?

Modelo Especial passed Bud Light as America's best-selling beer by retail dollars in May 2023, after a boycott that spring sent Bud Light's sales tumbling.

Cochineal, a crimson dye that colonial Mexico exported to Europe, is made from what?

Crushed insects: cochineal is the dried bodies of tiny scale insects that feed on cactus, and the same red still colours foods and cosmetics today.

Which salad is said to have been invented at a Tijuana restaurant in 1924?

Caesar salad is credited to Cesare Cardini, an Italian-born restaurateur whose Tijuana dining room served food and drink to Americans crossing the border to escape Prohibition.

What is elote, the Mexican street snack slathered with mayonnaise, cheese, chili and lime?

Grilled corn on the cob is the base; cut the kernels off and serve them in a cup with the same toppings and the snack becomes esquites, also known as corn in a cup.

What is the national dance of Mexico, often called the Mexican hat dance?

The Jarabe Tapatío takes its second name from the tapatíos, the people of Guadalajara; it acts out a courtship and ends with the woman dancing around the brim of the hat her partner throws to the floor.

What outfit do female dancers traditionally wear for the Mexican hat dance?

China poblana dress is by tradition traced to Catarina de San Juan, by legend an Indian noblewoman brought to colonial Puebla as a slave, though the link between her and the dress has been questioned.

A charro, with his silver-trimmed suit and wide sombrero, is a traditional Mexican what?

Horseman is the meaning: charros were the ranch riders of the old haciendas, and their roping and riding contests live on in the charreada, a Mexican cousin of the rodeo.

The cowboy word 'buckaroo' is a mangled form of which Spanish word for a cattle herder?

Vaquero comes from vaca, cow, and it was not the only borrowing: rodeo and lariat, from la reata, reached English from Spanish-speaking cattlemen too.

Which rebel priest, a hero of Mexican independence executed in 1815, is reputed to be the father of pro-French general Juan Almonte?

José María Morelos is generally named as his father, though proof is lacking; sent to the United States for schooling as a boy, the son grew up to head the regency that put a foreign emperor on Mexico's throne.

Huaraches, woven from strips of leather, are a traditional Mexican type of what?

Sandal: the design predates the Spanish, and country makers took to cutting the soles from old car tyres; the name was later lent to a sandal-shaped street snack.

What is the main ingredient of menudo, a spicy traditional Mexican soup?

Beef tripe, the cow's stomach lining, needs hours of simmering in a red chile broth, and the soup has long been trusted in Mexico as a morning-after cure for hangovers.

Carnitas, whose name means 'little meats', are made by slowly cooking which meat in its own fat?

Pork is simmered in lard over a low heat until tender, then the heat goes up so the outside crisps; the shredded meat is a favourite filling for tacos and burritos.

Which animal's English name comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs?

Coyote reached English through Mexican Spanish from the Nahuatl coyotl, while the other three names are South American or Caribbean; the animal itself has spread from Alaska to Panama as wolves were cleared from its path.

Why did Zaragoza's brother stand in for him at his 1857 wedding?

He was away on military duty in San Luis Potosí, so his brother Miguel said the vows for him in Monterrey; Rafaela Padilla died only months before her husband's great victory.

Which industry's marketers are credited with driving Cinco de Mayo's US popularity from the 1980s?

Beer companies, along with tequila brands, built 1980s advertising around the day; enthusiasm among non-Hispanic Americans took off only once the date was tied to selling Mexican drinks.

What makes a Mexican jumping bean jump?

A moth larva inside it twitches when the pod warms up, which may help it roll out of the sun; the 'bean' is really a seed pod from a shrub of the spurge family.