Cinco de Mayo Patch Program®

This 2″ iron-on embroidered patch is part of our patch program®.

Suggestions for how scouts can earn the Cinco de Mayo patch:

Help your scouts learn about Cinco de Mayo:

Cinco de Mayo originated in Mexico but is more popularly celebrated in the United States. The day does not celebrate Mexican independence but is a remembrance of a battle that took place in the Franco-Mexican war on May 5, 1862. On this date 2,000 Mexicans held off 6,000 French that attacked the small town of Puebla de Los Angeles. This symbolic victory for Mexico helped the Mexican resistance gain momentum.

Cinco de Mayo, also called the Battle of Peubla, is not a federal holiday in Mexico and is mostly celebrated only in the state of Peubla although a few other parts of the country celebrate as well Banks, businesses and offices remain open. The areas in Mexico that do celebrate have parades, re-enactments and other festive events.

Cinco de Mayo became popular in the United States as a way of celebrating Mexican culture. Celebrations in the United States include parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and of course traditional Mexican foods.

Have some fun during a Cinco de Mayo celebration:

Challenge the scouts to come up with a fun craft or activity they can do with supplies the troop already has in stock. If you have have tissue paper, they can make a fun giant flower craft. Grocery bags and some paint or markers is all they need to make a serape. Another idea is to look up traditional Mexican dances on-line and have fun learning the dance during your meeting or event.

You can find fun crafts for Cinco de Mayo on our page Easter, Mother’s Day and Spring Ideas for Scouts.

Your scouts are probably already familiar with many Mexican dishes but have they tried making any?
If you don’t have a kitchen in your meeting space, they can still make salsa from scratch.
To make 2 1/2 cups they will need to combine the following ingredients

• 5 plum tomatoes which they will chop and remove the seeds from
• chop enough onion to make 1/2 cup
• 1 jalapeno pepper which they will chop and remove the seeds from
• fresh cilantro minced to make 1/4 cup
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

A pinata is a fun activity for their celebration. Using Mexican candy as the treats is a great way to expose your scouts to bold candy flavors and unique textures they probably haven’t experienced before.