Holidays We Wouldn’t Celebrate Without Immigrants

King Louis XIV sent the Le Moyne brothers to defend France’s claim on the territory of Louisiane, which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of eastern Texas. On March 3, 1699, French explorers Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Sieur de Bienville arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River, which they named "Pointe du Mardi Gras" because it was the eve of the holiday.

New Orleans is now the epicenter of American Mardi Gras celebrations. The city draws thousands of tourists and revelers each year for the Carnival events, including the Mardi Gras parade. Revelers dress up in costumes (in the traditional colors of purple, green and gold) and celebrate by tossing beads and doubloons to the crowds from the parade floats.

Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May) marks an 1862 battle in Puebla, Mexico. A small, outnumbered Mexican army defeated the French. The unlikely victory was quickly erased when the French returned and defeated the Mexicans. The actual defeat and expulsion of the French forces by the Mexicans occurred in 1867.

In Mexico, the commemoration of the battle continues to be mostly ceremonial, such as through military parades. In the United States, the date has taken on a significance beyond that in Mexico. It’s likely that the origins of Cinco de Mayo celebrations lie in the responses of Mexicans living in California in the 1860s to French rule in Mexico at that time. At first the holiday gained popularity in areas with large Mexican-American populations, like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and San Jose, but later took off as a celebratory day in the 1980s. Now, Cinco de Mayo has become associated with the celebration of Mexican-American culture.

The Feast of the Passover, also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. As the Jews fled, they ate unleavened bread, and from that time they have allowed no leavening in their houses during Passover, bread being replaced by matzoh.

In Judaism, a day begins at dusk and ends the following dusk. Thus, the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel and for Reform Jews and other progressive Jews around the world who adhere to the Biblical commandment). It may last eight days for Orthodox, Hasidic, and most Conservative Jews (in the diaspora). On the first night of Passover (Passover Seder), family and friends gather to celebrate and re-experience the exodus from Egypt and the birth of the Jewish nation. The Seder table is set very elegantly, and during the Seder guests enjoy four glasses of wine and a gourmet holiday feast.

In the 1840s, large numbers of German Jews immigrated to the U.S. because of persecution, restrictive laws and economic hardship in their home country. By the 1880s, thousands more Jews left their homes in Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Romania to escape overpopulation, oppressive legislation and poverty.