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Columbus Day,
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Día de la Raza in many Latin American countries,
Discovery Day in
the Bahamas,
Hispanic Day in
Spain,
Día de las Culturas in
Costa Rica and
Día de la Resistencia Indígena in
Venezuela. Also,
Thanksgiving in
Canada, which falls on the same date.
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October Second Monday in (USA)
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October 13 (USA)
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October 12 (USA)
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October 11 (USA)
Columbus Day is a
holiday celebrated in many countries in
the Americas, commemorating the date of
Christopher Columbus's arrival in the
New World on
October 12,
1492. Similar holidays, celebrated as
Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in
Latin America,
Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in
Costa Rica,
Discovery Day in the
Bahamas,
Hispanic Day in
Spain, and the newly-renamed (as of
2002)
Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in
Venezuela, commemorate the same event.
United States observance
Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of
Italian-American heritage. Columbus Day was brought about as a U.S. national holiday by a lawyer-son of Genovese immigrants coming around-the-horn who built ranches in the 1850s along the Sierra Foothills. As the Gold ran out, these "Cal-Italians" were from the Alpenino hills, skilled and able to prosper as self-sufficent farmers in this natural environment. San Francisco has the oldest Columbus Day celebration,
Italians in
San Francisco have celebrated there since 1869. This lawyer then moved to Colorado to live. Here, the first state celebration was in
Colorado in 1905 (where there was Genovese miners), and in 1937, at the behest of the
Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a
holiday in the United States. Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the
second Monday in October, the same day as
Thanksgiving in neighboring
Canada.
Día de la Raza
The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Latin America (and in some Latino communities in the USA) as the
Día de la Raza ("day of the race"), commemorating the first encounters of
Europe and
Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in
Argentina in 1917,
Venezuela in 1921,
Chile in 1923, and
Mexico in 1928.
The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1958, when it was changed to the "Día de la Hispanidad." In Spain, the "race" of reference in the original name was that of the Spanish people and did not reflect the mestizo characterization found in many Latin American countries (see
La Raza).
In
2002, the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela changed the name to
Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance).
Opposition to Columbus Day
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In the state of
Minnesota, Columbus Day is not celebrated, because, in fact the
Vikings arrived in North America around 1000 AD and settled at L'anse aux Meadows in New Foundland
http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_lanse.htm,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061004-9.html 400 years before Columbus. However, in 2006, city offices in
Minneapolis were closed, as well as libraries across the Twin Cities.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/730280.html Some people oppose Columbus Day, claiming his achievements are not worthy of a holiday. The modern-day legend of Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America is due to
Washington Irving. His "biography" of Columbus, a dramatic and embellished account, was so popular it became accepted as fact in the English speaking countries.
However, in the Spanish speaking countries Columbus' crossing of the
Atlantic is widely accepted as the first contact between the two civilizations (European and native American) and additionally proved that the maritime technology was there to do it frequently.
Historically, Columbus was not the first to discover America, nor was he the first European to land in America, though he was the first European to successfully bring European culture to the Americas. There is also controversy surrounding the treatment of the native people of the Americas by Columbus and by Spanish conquistadors.
In recent years, the holiday has been rejected by some people who view it as a celebration of conquest and genocide by the Spaniards. In its place, Indigenous Peoples Day is sometimes celebrated. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, "Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Friendship Day" is celebrated on the same day as Columbus Day, due to the controversy surrounding the atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples of the present-day Caribbean during the Spanish colonization of the New World. In the state of South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day", not Columbus Day.
Some have argued that the responsibility of contemporary governments and their citizens for allegedly ongoing acts of
genocide against Native Americans are masked by positive Columbus myths and celebrations. These critics argue that a particular understanding of the legacy of Columbus has been used to legitimize their actions, and it is this misuse of history that must be exposed. Thus,
Ward Churchill (an associate professor of Native American Studies at the
University of Colorado at
Boulder, and a leader of the
American Indian Movement), has argued that certain myths about Columbus, and celebrations of Columbus, make it easier for people today to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions, or the actions of their governments.
See also
*
Discoverer's Day*
Discovery Day*
Leif Erikson Day*
Population history of American indigenous peoplesExternal links
*
http://www.transformcolumbusday.org/ Transform Columbus Day — A campaign to "reject the celebration of Christopher Columbus" in
Colorado*
http://www.osia.org/public/culture/columbus.asp Christopher Columbus — An Italian-American perspective on Columbus Day, from the
OSIA*
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct12.html Today in History: October 12 — An article about Columbus Day at The
Library of Congress*
http://www.aktalakota.org/index.cfm?cat=61&artid=176 Native American Day in South Dakota*
http://www.edhelper.com/Columbus_Day.htm Columbus Day Activities for TeachersCategory:Holidays in the United StatesCategory:Italian-American cultureCategory:October observancesca:Dia de la Hispanitatde:Kolumbus-Tages:Día de la Razafr:Jour de Christophe Colombit:Il Giorno di Colombonl:Día de la Razaja:コロンブス・デーsimple:Columbus Dayzh:哥伦布日