As a child growing up in Laredo, Texas, Elaine Peña, associate professor of American studies, had an annual front row seat to the biggest show along the Rio Grande.
Every February since 1898, the residents of Laredo and its sister city across the U.S.- Mexico border, Nuevo Laredo, have thrown a joint birthday party for George Washington. Along with parades and carnivals, the month-long Washington’s Birthday Celebration has at times featured bullfights and a bizarre reenactment of the Boston Tea Party, complete with a 100-foot long wooden boat and actors in Native American garb tossing candy to the crowd. Today, the festival still includes a Pocahontas-themed debutante ball and a closing ceremony where children from each city embrace along the bridge that connects them.
To Dr. Peña, the celebration was as confusing as it was festive. How could she reconcile the images of unity with troubling cultural depictions? “As I grew older, I asked myself whether this was right or wrong, well-intentioned but misguided,” she remembered. “I wanted to figure out why this phenomenon persisted.”
Dr. Peña turned her childhood questions into an academic inquiry. Her new book “¡Viva George! Celebrating Washington’s Birthday at the US-Mexico Border” (University of Texas Press) is the culmination of 11 years of exhaustive research and return trips to her hometown. In an interview with GW Today, she discussed the celebration’s origins, how its cross-cultural dynamics have propelled businesses on both sides of the border and why she describes “¡Viva George!” as an “anti-wall” book.