Christopher Columbus Holiday
First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World, after the painting by Discoro T?ofilo de la Puebla
Observed by Various countries in the Americas,
Spain
Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492 Date October 12 (actual/traditional); second Monday in October (observed in the United States) 2009 date October 12 (USA) 2010 date October 11 (USA) 2011 date October 10 (USA) Related to Thanksgiving in Canada, which falls on the same date
Columbus Day
From Wikipedia
Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, specifically the Bahamas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday. The day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as D?a de la Raza in many countries in the Americas, as D?a de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, as D?a de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional in Spain and as D?a de las Am?ricas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century.
Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1906, and became a federal holiday in 1937. However, people have celebrated Columbus' voyage since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the four hundredth anniversary, in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.
Latin American observance
D?a de la Raza
The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in many countries in Latin America. The most common name for the celebration in Spanish (including in some Latino communities in the United States) is the D?a de la Raza ("day of the race" or "day of the [hispanic] people"), commemorating the first encounters of Europeans and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela and Colombia in 1921, Chile in 1922, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the D?a de la Hispanidad ("Hispanity Day"), and in Venezuela until 2002, when it was changed to the D?a de la Resistencia Ind?gena (Day of Indigenous Resistance). Originally conceived of as a celebration of Hispanic influence in the Americas, as evidenced by the complimentary celebrations in Spain and Latin America, D?a de la Raza has come to be seen by some in Latin America as a counter to Columbus Day. A celebration of the resistance against the arrival of Europeans to the Americas and of the native races and cultures.
In the U.S. D?a de la Raza has served as a time of mobilization for pan-ethnic Latino activists, particularly in the 1960s. Since then, La Raza has served as a periodic rallying cry for Hispanic activists. The first Hispanic March on Washington occurred on Columbus Day in 1996. The name has remained in the largest Hispanic social justice organization, the National Council of La Raza.
Costa Rica
Since 1994, Costa Rica had changed the official holiday from D?a de la Raza to D?a de las Culturas (Day of the cultures) to recognize the mix of European, American, African and Asian cultures that helped to compose Costa Rican (and Latin American) culture.[18]
[edit] Venezuela
Current state (June 6, 2006) of the Columbus Walk in Caracas. The statue was knocked down by activists after a "public trial" during the celebrations of the newly instituted "Day of the Indigenous Resistance" (October 12) in 2004[19][20]
Between 1921 and 2002, Venezuela had celebrated D?a de la Raza along with many other Latin American nations. The original holiday was officially established in 1921 under President Juan Vicente G?mez. In 2002, under president Hugo Ch?vez, the name was changed to D?a de la Resistencia Ind?gena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) to commemorate the Indigenous peoples' resistance to European settlement. On October 12, 2004 a crowd of pro-government activists toppled the statue of Columbus in Caracas and sprayed allusive graffiti over its pedestal. The pro-Ch?vez, website Aporrea wrote: "Just like the statue of Saddam in Baghdad, that of Columbus the tyrant also fell this October 12, 2004 in Caracas." The famous toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue had occurred the previous year.
Spain
See also: Fiesta Nacional de Espa?a
Since 1987, Spain has celebrated the anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas as its Fiesta Nacional or "National Day".[22] Before that, since 1957, Spain had celebrated the day as D?a de la Hispanidad, emphasizing Spain's ties with the Hispanidad or international Hispanic community.[22] Before 1957, the celebration had been called "Dia de la Raza" along with most of the other Latin American celebrations. In 1981 a royal decree established the D?a de la Hispanidad as a national holiday.[22] However, in 1987 the name was changed to Fiesta Nacional, and October 12 became one of two national celebrations, along with Constitution Day on December 6.[23] Spain's "national day" had moved around several times during the various regime changes of the 20th century; establishing it on the day of the international Columbus celebration was part of a compromise between conservatives, who wanted to emphasize the status of the monarchy and Spain's history, and Republicans, who wanted to commemorate Spain's burgeoning democracy with an official holiday. Since 2000, October 12 has also been Spain's Day of the Armed Forces, celebrated each year with a military parade in Madrid. Other than this, however, the holiday is not widely or enthusiastically celebrated in Spain; there are no other large-scale patriotic parades, marches, or other events, and the observation is generally overshadowed by the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar
Opposition to Columbus celebrations
Opposition to Columbus Day dates to at least the 19th century, when activists sought to eradicate Columbus Day celebrations because they thought they were being used to expand Catholic influence[citation needed]. By far the more common opposition today, decrying Columbus' and Europeans' actions against the indigenous populations of the Americas, did not gain much traction till the latter half of the 20th century. This opposition has been spearheaded by indigenous groups, though it has spread into the mainstream.
There are two main, though highly interrelated strands of this critique. The first refers primarily to the indigenous population collapse and cruel treatment of indigenous people and peoples during the European colonization of the new world which followed Columbus' discovery. 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. F. David Peat asserts that many cultural myths of North America exclude or diminish the culture and myths of Native Americans. These cultural myths include ideas expressed by Michael Berliner of the Ayn Rand Institute claiming that Western civilization brought “reason, science, self-reliance, individualism, ambition, and productive achievement” to a people who were based in “primitivism, mysticism, and collectivism”, and to a land that was “sparsely inhabited, unused, and underdeveloped.” American anthropologist Jack Weatherford criticized that the Americans celebrate the greatest waves of genocide of the Indians known in history each year on Columbus Day. American Indian Movement of Colorado leader and activist Ward Churchill takes this argument further, contending that the mythologizing and celebration of the European settlement of the Americas in Columbus Day make it easier for people today to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions, or the actions of their governments regarding indigenous populations. He wrote in his book Bringing the Law Back Home:
Very high on the list of those expressions of non-indigenous sensibility contribute to the perpetuation of genocidal policies against Indians are the annual Columbus Day celebration, events in which it is baldly asserted that the process, events, and circumstances described above are, at best, either acceptable or unimportant. More often, the sentiments expressed by the participants are, quite frankly, that the fate of Native America embodied in Columbus and the Columbian legacy is a matter to be openly and enthusiastically applauded as an unrivaled "boon to all mankind". Undeniably, the situation of American Indians will not — in fact cannot — change for the better so long as such attitudes are deemed socially acceptable by the mainstream populace. Hence, such celebrations as Columbus Day must be stopped.
A second strain of the criticism of Columbus day focuses on the character of Columbus himself. In time for the observation of Columbus Day in 2004, the final volume of a compendium of Columbus era documents was published by University of California, Los Angeles's Medieval and Renaissance Center. Geoffrey Symcox, the general editor of the project asserted: "While giving the brilliant mariner his due, the collection portrays Columbus as an unrelenting social climber and self-promoter who stopped at nothing— not even exploitation, slavery, or twisting Biblical scripture— to advance his ambitions… Many of the unflattering documents have been known for the last century or more, but nobody paid much attention to them until recently… The fact that Columbus brought slavery, enormous exploitation or devastating diseases to the Americas used to be seen as a minor detail - if it was recognized at all - in light of his role as the great bringer of white man's civilization to the benighted idolatrous American continent. But to historians today this information is very important. It changes our whole view of the enterprise."
Most critiques combine elements of both strains. Journalist and media critic Norman Solomon reflects in Columbus Day: A Clash of Myth and History that many people choose to hold onto the myths surrounding Columbus whereas historians who deal with the evidence are frequently depicted as "politically correct" revisionists. He quotes from the logbook Columbus's initial description of the Indians: "They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance.... They would make fine servants.... With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." In 1495, during the Second Voyage, Indians were transported to Spain as slaves, many dying en route. "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity," Columbus later wrote, "go on sending all the slaves that can be sold." Solomon states that the most important contemporary documentary evidence is the multi volume History of the Indies by the Catholic priest Bartolome de las Casas who observed the region where Columbus was governor. In contrast to "the myth" Solomon quotes Las Casas who describes Spaniards driven by "insatiable greed" — "killing, terrorizing, afflicting, and torturing the native peoples" with "the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty" and how systematic violence was aimed at preventing "Indians from daring to think of themselves as human beings." The Spaniards "thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades", wrote Las Casas. "My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write."
In the summer of 1990, 350 representatives from Indian groups from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first Intercontinental Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in Davis, California, more than a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, "International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People." The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others.
First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World, after the painting by Discoro T?ofilo de la Puebla
Observed by Various countries in the Americas,
Spain
Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492 Date October 12 (actual/traditional); second Monday in October (observed in the United States) 2009 date October 12 (USA) 2010 date October 11 (USA) 2011 date October 10 (USA) Related to Thanksgiving in Canada, which falls on the same date
Columbus Day
From Wikipedia
Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, specifically the Bahamas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday. The day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as D?a de la Raza in many countries in the Americas, as D?a de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, as D?a de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional in Spain and as D?a de las Am?ricas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century.
Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1906, and became a federal holiday in 1937. However, people have celebrated Columbus' voyage since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the four hundredth anniversary, in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.
Latin American observance
D?a de la Raza
The date of Columbus' arrival in the Americas is celebrated in many countries in Latin America. The most common name for the celebration in Spanish (including in some Latino communities in the United States) is the D?a de la Raza ("day of the race" or "day of the [hispanic] people"), commemorating the first encounters of Europeans and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela and Colombia in 1921, Chile in 1922, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the D?a de la Hispanidad ("Hispanity Day"), and in Venezuela until 2002, when it was changed to the D?a de la Resistencia Ind?gena (Day of Indigenous Resistance). Originally conceived of as a celebration of Hispanic influence in the Americas, as evidenced by the complimentary celebrations in Spain and Latin America, D?a de la Raza has come to be seen by some in Latin America as a counter to Columbus Day. A celebration of the resistance against the arrival of Europeans to the Americas and of the native races and cultures.
In the U.S. D?a de la Raza has served as a time of mobilization for pan-ethnic Latino activists, particularly in the 1960s. Since then, La Raza has served as a periodic rallying cry for Hispanic activists. The first Hispanic March on Washington occurred on Columbus Day in 1996. The name has remained in the largest Hispanic social justice organization, the National Council of La Raza.
Costa Rica
Since 1994, Costa Rica had changed the official holiday from D?a de la Raza to D?a de las Culturas (Day of the cultures) to recognize the mix of European, American, African and Asian cultures that helped to compose Costa Rican (and Latin American) culture.[18]
[edit] Venezuela
Current state (June 6, 2006) of the Columbus Walk in Caracas. The statue was knocked down by activists after a "public trial" during the celebrations of the newly instituted "Day of the Indigenous Resistance" (October 12) in 2004[19][20]
Between 1921 and 2002, Venezuela had celebrated D?a de la Raza along with many other Latin American nations. The original holiday was officially established in 1921 under President Juan Vicente G?mez. In 2002, under president Hugo Ch?vez, the name was changed to D?a de la Resistencia Ind?gena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) to commemorate the Indigenous peoples' resistance to European settlement. On October 12, 2004 a crowd of pro-government activists toppled the statue of Columbus in Caracas and sprayed allusive graffiti over its pedestal. The pro-Ch?vez, website Aporrea wrote: "Just like the statue of Saddam in Baghdad, that of Columbus the tyrant also fell this October 12, 2004 in Caracas." The famous toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue had occurred the previous year.
Spain
See also: Fiesta Nacional de Espa?a
Since 1987, Spain has celebrated the anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas as its Fiesta Nacional or "National Day".[22] Before that, since 1957, Spain had celebrated the day as D?a de la Hispanidad, emphasizing Spain's ties with the Hispanidad or international Hispanic community.[22] Before 1957, the celebration had been called "Dia de la Raza" along with most of the other Latin American celebrations. In 1981 a royal decree established the D?a de la Hispanidad as a national holiday.[22] However, in 1987 the name was changed to Fiesta Nacional, and October 12 became one of two national celebrations, along with Constitution Day on December 6.[23] Spain's "national day" had moved around several times during the various regime changes of the 20th century; establishing it on the day of the international Columbus celebration was part of a compromise between conservatives, who wanted to emphasize the status of the monarchy and Spain's history, and Republicans, who wanted to commemorate Spain's burgeoning democracy with an official holiday. Since 2000, October 12 has also been Spain's Day of the Armed Forces, celebrated each year with a military parade in Madrid. Other than this, however, the holiday is not widely or enthusiastically celebrated in Spain; there are no other large-scale patriotic parades, marches, or other events, and the observation is generally overshadowed by the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar
Opposition to Columbus celebrations
Opposition to Columbus Day dates to at least the 19th century, when activists sought to eradicate Columbus Day celebrations because they thought they were being used to expand Catholic influence[citation needed]. By far the more common opposition today, decrying Columbus' and Europeans' actions against the indigenous populations of the Americas, did not gain much traction till the latter half of the 20th century. This opposition has been spearheaded by indigenous groups, though it has spread into the mainstream.
There are two main, though highly interrelated strands of this critique. The first refers primarily to the indigenous population collapse and cruel treatment of indigenous people and peoples during the European colonization of the new world which followed Columbus' discovery. 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. F. David Peat asserts that many cultural myths of North America exclude or diminish the culture and myths of Native Americans. These cultural myths include ideas expressed by Michael Berliner of the Ayn Rand Institute claiming that Western civilization brought “reason, science, self-reliance, individualism, ambition, and productive achievement” to a people who were based in “primitivism, mysticism, and collectivism”, and to a land that was “sparsely inhabited, unused, and underdeveloped.” American anthropologist Jack Weatherford criticized that the Americans celebrate the greatest waves of genocide of the Indians known in history each year on Columbus Day. American Indian Movement of Colorado leader and activist Ward Churchill takes this argument further, contending that the mythologizing and celebration of the European settlement of the Americas in Columbus Day make it easier for people today to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions, or the actions of their governments regarding indigenous populations. He wrote in his book Bringing the Law Back Home:
Very high on the list of those expressions of non-indigenous sensibility contribute to the perpetuation of genocidal policies against Indians are the annual Columbus Day celebration, events in which it is baldly asserted that the process, events, and circumstances described above are, at best, either acceptable or unimportant. More often, the sentiments expressed by the participants are, quite frankly, that the fate of Native America embodied in Columbus and the Columbian legacy is a matter to be openly and enthusiastically applauded as an unrivaled "boon to all mankind". Undeniably, the situation of American Indians will not — in fact cannot — change for the better so long as such attitudes are deemed socially acceptable by the mainstream populace. Hence, such celebrations as Columbus Day must be stopped.
A second strain of the criticism of Columbus day focuses on the character of Columbus himself. In time for the observation of Columbus Day in 2004, the final volume of a compendium of Columbus era documents was published by University of California, Los Angeles's Medieval and Renaissance Center. Geoffrey Symcox, the general editor of the project asserted: "While giving the brilliant mariner his due, the collection portrays Columbus as an unrelenting social climber and self-promoter who stopped at nothing— not even exploitation, slavery, or twisting Biblical scripture— to advance his ambitions… Many of the unflattering documents have been known for the last century or more, but nobody paid much attention to them until recently… The fact that Columbus brought slavery, enormous exploitation or devastating diseases to the Americas used to be seen as a minor detail - if it was recognized at all - in light of his role as the great bringer of white man's civilization to the benighted idolatrous American continent. But to historians today this information is very important. It changes our whole view of the enterprise."
Most critiques combine elements of both strains. Journalist and media critic Norman Solomon reflects in Columbus Day: A Clash of Myth and History that many people choose to hold onto the myths surrounding Columbus whereas historians who deal with the evidence are frequently depicted as "politically correct" revisionists. He quotes from the logbook Columbus's initial description of the Indians: "They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance.... They would make fine servants.... With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." In 1495, during the Second Voyage, Indians were transported to Spain as slaves, many dying en route. "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity," Columbus later wrote, "go on sending all the slaves that can be sold." Solomon states that the most important contemporary documentary evidence is the multi volume History of the Indies by the Catholic priest Bartolome de las Casas who observed the region where Columbus was governor. In contrast to "the myth" Solomon quotes Las Casas who describes Spaniards driven by "insatiable greed" — "killing, terrorizing, afflicting, and torturing the native peoples" with "the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty" and how systematic violence was aimed at preventing "Indians from daring to think of themselves as human beings." The Spaniards "thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades", wrote Las Casas. "My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write."
In the summer of 1990, 350 representatives from Indian groups from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first Intercontinental Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas, to mobilize against the quincentennial celebration of Columbus Day. The following summer, in Davis, California, more than a hundred Native Americans gathered for a follow-up meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, "International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People." The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others.
