Cinco de Mayo is a festive holiday that’s celebrated with music, dancing, family and delicious food.

To get great Mexican flavors for your fiesta, let’s take a lesson from Maria Conception Jacinta Dominguez Ortega, more commonly known as Mama Ortega.

In the 1800s, Mama Ortega created a loving home for her 13 children, and it centered around a tiny kitchen. From her small charcoal-burning stove, Mama Ortega created memorable meals her family loved. Everything for each meal was homegrown, handpicked and homemade.

Now you may not be able to grow your own ingredients, but you can at least take advantage of the way Mama Ortega did things — with authentic ingredients such as the line of Ortega Mexican food products that bear her name. Like fire-roasted chiles, authentic taco seasonings, crisp taco shells made with whole kernel corn and America’s number one taco sauce — just a few of the ways that Ortega brings authentic Mexican flavor and fun to the family dinner table.

Holiday in Mexico

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “Fifth of May”) is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

The battle was significant for at least two reasons. First, while outnumbered almost two-to-one, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years. Second, this battle was important because it would be “the last time that an army from another continent invaded the Americas.” While significant, however, Cinco de Mayo is not an obligatory federal holiday in Mexico.

Not Mexico’s Independence Day

While Cinco de Mayo has limited or no significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. However, a common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day. Mexico’s Independence Day is actually September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish), which is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

For delicious Mexican recipes to enjoy on Cinco de Mayo — or any day — visit www.ortega.com.