Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday and should be celebrated in Mexico. For American businesses, it's just another day to try and get more of your money.

Which half, Monica?

I like Saint Patricks day, even though it has no cultural relevance to me. I simply appreciate that the year is sprinkled with special days, wherein we do special things. Variety is the spice of life.

That is like saying that if people around the world don't celebrate the 4th of July there is something wrong with them

I'm perfectly happy to celebrate Cinco de Mayo -- although frankly since I don't drink and I have Mexican food for lunch or dinner pretty much every other day, there's really not much for me to do differently. As I always say, anything that commemorates a bunch of arrogant Frenchmen getting a much-deserved whuppin' is something Americans shouldn't have much of a problem celebrating.

(I'm going to have a big party on June 18, too.)

What I'm not willing to do is to have the holiday turned into an occasion for smug journo-kids who can't tell Guy Fawkes from "Guy Fox" to lecture me about why my considered opposition to mass immigration is some kind of mental defect.

Change is inevitable, and change is good -- but we do have some control over how we will respond to a changing world.

I'm having a hard time getting my head around this debate of whether or not to "celebrate" a holiday. When I lived in California, we'd walk down to the Mexican neighbors' houses on Cino de Mayo and have rice, beans, grilled pork, chorizo, about a dozen other wonderful foods; and tequilla if you'd a mind for it. No politics, just a big BBQ with some delicious food.

On the Fourth of July, the Mexicans would walk up to our place and eat hot dogs and burgers. Again--no politics, just tasty food and the kids running around in the yard. My Mexican neighbors used to laugh that at least Americans knew what they were celebrating on the Fourth of July. They claimed to have no idea what Cinco de Mayo was all about, but any excuse was a good excuse for a fiesta.

Maybe I oversimply things, and maybe I'm wrong to think that Christian hospitality is more important that making a poltical statement, but if the Mexicans want to have a Cinco de Mayo party, wander on down and get in on that action. No one will try to convert you Mexicanism, I promise. Or stay home. ¿Quién cuida?

A little hostile there, Monica?

Nobody's trying to "indoctrinate" you. If you don't like a good excuse for a party in May--and May is a good time to have a party--then go ahead and live your dour little existence, and the rest of us will celebrate.

The debate isn't about whether or not to celebrate a holiday. This letter was about... Whether it is MANDETORY to celebrate it or you are somehow defective or biggoted in the eyes of the original letter writer.

Of course you can walk up or down the street on either holiday and celebreate together. The question is MUST you walk up/down the street and celebrate together or you are some sort of bigot or mental deffective?

I don't see how you paint whether you go to the party or not into a "Religion" or "Politics" issue. To me it's just a social issue. If you want to go party with your neighbor you do. If you stay home, it doesn't mean I must have political issues or I'm not Christian enough!

My neighbors have parties from time to time I don't drop in on (even when invited). Does that mean I hate them or something?

A decision to not celebrate or not is not necesarily a subtle sign of bigotry or a political or religious thing.

Racial boogy man sydrome here for my liking. I don't celebrate Juneteenth (spelling?). I'm not even sure what it is. While that may be a disadvantage for me or a missed opportunity, it is not a statement of racial bias. I don't celebrate Muslim, Jewish, Canadian or a myriad of other occasions, though that great Pagan Christmas tree is kind of fun. The original editorial posed the question of whether lack of Cinco de Mayo participation was out of fear, insinuating some racist slant. Nada.

To "To Haletohsis @ 11:38": I assume you meant me; I agree with you and with the letter's author. Celebrating a holiday or not doesn't make you a bigot. I don't usually do much for the Pioneer Day, despite that holiday's personal significance to me, because here's just too much traffic with the parade.

But I also meant to mock Ms. Wilbur's alarmist tone and use of inflammatory verbiage like "indoctrination" and "racial pandering". No one is going to show up and force anybody to celebrate any holiday; no one will be hauled of to camps for pro-Cinco de Mayo reeducation.

Lastly, I can't say what not attending a neighbor's party means about you, but I encourage you to go to the next one. Even just to stop in for a few minutes and say "hello". You don't have to be best friends, but it seems to me that people don't know their neighbors anymore, and that's not good because neighbors have to watch each other's backs, so to speak. I'm not a particularly social person but I like to know the people sleeping within a dozen yards of where I sleep.