What is Columbus Day?
Columbus Day 2019 – Who will forget the day when Christopher Columbus landed in the New World? It was October 12, 1492 when he first discovered the land of the Americas known as the ‘Day of the Race’.
Christopher Columbus always dreamed of becoming a voyager, with a strong passion to discover the world. Inspired by Marco Polo’s book ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’, he decided to put his dreams into reality. After getting a stint from the Kingdom of Spain, he became a navigator with a goal of expanding the power of the Spaniards through expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean and to colonize the New World to obtain its super power and economic imperialism throughout the European regions, Asia and East India, by travelling westward. And until then, the rest is history.
It was 1937 when Columbus Day became one of the official federal holidays across the United States. But years before it was proclaimed, history has strong evidence that it has been observed years and centuries ago in States like New York and Colorado, to name a few. Even former US President Benjamin Harrison paid tribute to Columbus on his 400th year anniversary of discovery, along with his fellow countrymen.
In South American Countries, it is widely remembered as well. Columbus Day is greatly honored in some of the countries in Latin America like Argentina (Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity), Belize and Uruguay (Day of the Americas) and the Bahamas (Discovery Day). Even in European countries like Spain (Dia de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional) and Italy (Festa Nazionale di Cristoforo Colombo), Christopher Columbus success had been widely announced. In some US territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, it comes along with the ‘Puerto Rico Friendship Day’. The names may differ, but it serves a single large significance in the world history, discovery.
Most of the states recognize Columbus Day as a national holiday. However, on some states like South Dakota, Oregon, Iowa, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii do not share the same observance; rather changed the day of Columbus to the ‘Native American Day’ in South Dakota, the Polynesian’s ‘Discoverer’s Day’ in Hawaii that coincides with the same occasion; some cities in California and Washington changed it to ‘Indigenous People Day’ while the remaining states mentioned above do not celebrate it at all.
Church services, large parades and ceremonies are held during this time, especially in the Italian – American community. Though this holiday is quite controversial because of the defunct of the history and cultural heritage of the natives, it is still undeniable that Christopher Columbus marked the beginning of the progress of the United States of America.
When is Columbus Day 2019?
October 14
