Out, About: Nashville’s Cinco de Mayo celebrations

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This coming Monday is Cinco de Mayo — a holiday WNXP’s Marquis Munson loves to call “Cinco de Drinko” in his best frat boy voice just to get under my skin. He’s not wrong about the day’s perception, though, for an unfortunate amount of celebrants.

So, let’s start at the top.

What is Cinco de Mayo?

A lot of well-meaning folks tell Latinos like me “Happy Cinco de Mayo!” But I am Puerto Rican, and this is a specifically Mexican holiday. It’s also not Mexican Independence Day, which is in mid-September with a lot of other Latin countries’ independence days. (I’ve talked about this before, but that’s actually why Hispanic Heritage Month straddles both September and October.) Cinco de Mayo translates to simply “the 5th of May,” and it’s celebrating a win over France at the Battle of Puebla back in 1862.

How can I (respectfully) celebrate?

Going straight to the source — Mexican-led and -centered celebrations — is my suggestion. Plaza Mariachi, the Latino-owned cultural hub is hosting five days of Cinco de Mayo events beginning today with a traditional ballet folklorico performance. From there, the plaza is hosting a night market daily and musical performances from mariachi bands to DJ sets, plus a promise of tacos and tequila aplenty.

What also caught my eye was the return of Secret Bodega’s Taco Bell-inspired takeover at Pearl Diver. They’re very self-aware about it — putting “Mexican food” in quotes in the captioning. But Secret Bodega is Mexican co-owned. It started in the pandemic with a different iteration, Homesick Together, that has become this consistent pop-up over the years, co-led by Jesse Valenciana, who even has a new cookbook out about the art of birria, so you know he’s legit. Secret Bodega’s party is starting up at 2 p.m. on Monday, and just the photos of their version of a Crunchwrap tell me it’s going to ruin Taco Bell for me forever.

What if I’m mostly after music?

Perfect! Because there are some great options this year.

It’s Giving Global, who Marquis talked to last Cinco de Mayo, is throwing another party — this time, at Cherries in East. They’re a great example of appreciation, rather than appropriation. The collective is a huge mix of races and ethnicities, and the two DJs for the event, Dame Luz and Dumb Groove, are Latino — but Dominican, and Puerto Rican-Venezuelan, respectively. Still, we speak the same language. We listen to music from the other cultures. We eat dishes from each other’s countries. So I bet their party will be authentic and, as always, a great time.

Then, over at Rudy’s Jazz Room in the Gulch, Grammy Award-winning musician Giovanni Rodriguez will be leading the celebration there, featuring bachata, salsa and jazz. And the good news is: He’s in residency there Mondays anyway, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t make it out on the holiday.

Hear more about Cinco de Mayo and other events happening this week in the full What Where When-sday edition here.