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Columbus Day and Dia de la Raza

On the second Monday in October, Americans celebrate Columbus Day to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492.

Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay celebrate Día de la Raza (day of the race) on October 12, to commemorate the first encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. Dia de la Raza is about the multi-cultural Latin American identity. It is known as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, Hispanic Day in Spain, and Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela.

Today, many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Monuments have been erected in his honor, including this very ugly example of American architecture.

Since 1920 the day has been celebrated annually in the U.S., and in 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. In 1971 the U.S. Congress declared it a federal public holiday on the second Monday in October, and American banks and schools are closed on this day.

Controversies have developed around this holiday in recent years. Some people oppose Columbus Day, claiming his achievements are not worthy of a holiday. He did not, in fact “discover” America, since the land was already inhabited, and the Vikings had explored the North American coast 500 years earlier.

There is also controversy surrounding the treatment of the native people of the Americas by Columbus and by Spanish conquistadors, and some people view the holiday as a celebration of conquest and genocide by the Spaniards. In its place, some people celebrate “Indigenous Peoples Day.”

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