乔鲁拉大金字塔，墨西哥乔鲁拉 The Great Pyramid of Cholula, in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico (© mauritius images GmbH/Alamy)

乔鲁拉大金字塔，墨西哥乔鲁拉 The Great Pyramid of Cholula, in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico (© mauritius images GmbH/Alamy)

The birthplace of Cinco de Mayo

The church we see on the grassy hill was built after Hernan Cortez and his Spanish army conquered Cholula one October day in 1519. The Spanish ravaged the holy city that day, murdering 10% of its population and burning down the many pyramids that dotted the area. But just underneath this church, buried for centuries, lay an ancient secret never discovered by the Spanish. It's the largest pyramid in the world, the Great Pyramid of Cholula, so large its enormous base would span several Olympic-sized swimming pools.

It's apt then, that we visit this holy area on Cinco de Mayo. Just 20 miles away near the city of Puebla, on May 5, 1862, another battle was waged, this time by the Mexicans against French invaders. By some miracle, the vastly outnumbered and outarmed Mexicans won the Battle of Puebla. And so today, we in the United States join those in this part of Mexico to celebrate a win over would-be conquerors.

Cinco de Mayo的诞生地

我们在长满青草的山上看到的教堂是在1519年10月的一天，赫尔南·科尔特斯和他的西班牙军队征服了乔鲁拉之后建造的。西班牙人那天蹂躏了圣城，杀害了10%的人口，烧毁了遍布该地区的许多金字塔。但就在这座埋葬了几个世纪的教堂下面，隐藏着一个从未被西班牙人发现的古老秘密。它是世界上最大的金字塔，乔鲁拉大金字塔，如此之大，其巨大的基础将跨越几个奥运会大小的游泳池。

那么，我们去参观辛科德梅奥的这片圣地是恰当的。1862年5月5日，就在20英里外的普埃布拉市附近，墨西哥人发动了另一场战争，这次是对法国侵略者的战争。奇迹般的是，人数众多、装备精良的墨西哥人赢得了普埃布拉战役。所以今天，我们美国和墨西哥这一地区的人们一起庆祝战胜潜在征服者的胜利。