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Today (October 10) is Columbus Day in the US. Don't feel bad if you didn't know; it's not widely celebrated anymore. It seems like the only people with the day off are the government, banks, and some schools. I only knew about it because late last night Siri popped up a reminder on my phone asking me if I wanted to turn off my 6:45am alarm since today's a holiday. Sorry, girl, it's a workday for me!
It's been years since I've written about Columbus Day, so here are Five Things:
1. Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the U.S., honoring Christopher Columbus for his discovery of the New World beginning in 1492. Celebration of it is not exactly widespread; it seems to be limited to federal and state government offices, many banks, and some schools.
2. The extent to which Columbus Day is celebrated varies. From personal experience I'd say it's more of a thing in the East than the West. It's also more of a thing among Italian-American communities. For example, in San Francisco— part of an area which otherwise takes a dim view on what Columbus represents (see #3, below)— there are big parades in the Little Italy neighborhood of North Beach. In addition it strikes me that celebrations have become fewer and further between over, say, the past 20 years.
3. Not everyone agrees with portraying Columbus as a hero. He did bring exploitation, slavery, disease, and death to the natives of the lands he explored. In 1992 the City of Berkeley (California) proclaimed it Indigenous Peoples' Day as part of a counter-celebration of Columbus Day. From the late 1980s and early 90s I also recall people using the moniker "Native Peoples Subjugation Day". I've continued using that phrase myself, as a form of irony and dark humor. The more anodyne name Indigenous Peoples Day has been adopted officially by several states and 100+ cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and many others.
4. Columbus did not "prove" the earth is round. Part of the standard modern narrative is that Columbus "proved" to benighted kings and queens of Europe that the earth is round. In fact the educated elites already knew that. The roundness of the earth was established 2,000 years earlier in Western history by Greek scholars. In fact they even calculated reasonable accurate estimates about it's diameter... which Columbus got wrong. And not just a little wrong; he was off by a factor of 3x!
When he bumped in to the Caribbean he thought he'd sailed all the way around to Southeast Asia. He thought he'd reached India-- a claim which he insisted on until his death-- and to this day we perpetuate his error by calling the native peoples of North, Central, and South America Indians.
5. Celebration of Columbus Day is a modern artifact. With the American nursery rhyme "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" you might think celebration of Columbus Day has been around for 500 years... or maybe 200-300, at least. There were a few one-time celebrations during that time frame— and they were monstrously used as excuses to commit racial violence in the name of "patriotism". San Francisco claims the longest annual observance, at just over 150 years now. But Columbus Day as a national holiday is just over 50 years old. It's a creation from mid-20th century lobbying by Italian-American community advocates to create a positive Italian-American role model. Some say it's a reaction to the popularity of mafia stories, such as Mario Puzo's The Godfather series, typifying what Americans thought of Italian-Americans. Columbus Day became a federal holiday since 1971. I've always wondered, if we're going to pick an Italian explorer to honor, why not Amerigo Vespucci? Y'know, the guy the continents of the western hemisphere are named for??
It's been years since I've written about Columbus Day, so here are Five Things:
1. Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the U.S., honoring Christopher Columbus for his discovery of the New World beginning in 1492. Celebration of it is not exactly widespread; it seems to be limited to federal and state government offices, many banks, and some schools.
2. The extent to which Columbus Day is celebrated varies. From personal experience I'd say it's more of a thing in the East than the West. It's also more of a thing among Italian-American communities. For example, in San Francisco— part of an area which otherwise takes a dim view on what Columbus represents (see #3, below)— there are big parades in the Little Italy neighborhood of North Beach. In addition it strikes me that celebrations have become fewer and further between over, say, the past 20 years.
3. Not everyone agrees with portraying Columbus as a hero. He did bring exploitation, slavery, disease, and death to the natives of the lands he explored. In 1992 the City of Berkeley (California) proclaimed it Indigenous Peoples' Day as part of a counter-celebration of Columbus Day. From the late 1980s and early 90s I also recall people using the moniker "Native Peoples Subjugation Day". I've continued using that phrase myself, as a form of irony and dark humor. The more anodyne name Indigenous Peoples Day has been adopted officially by several states and 100+ cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and many others.
4. Columbus did not "prove" the earth is round. Part of the standard modern narrative is that Columbus "proved" to benighted kings and queens of Europe that the earth is round. In fact the educated elites already knew that. The roundness of the earth was established 2,000 years earlier in Western history by Greek scholars. In fact they even calculated reasonable accurate estimates about it's diameter... which Columbus got wrong. And not just a little wrong; he was off by a factor of 3x!
When he bumped in to the Caribbean he thought he'd sailed all the way around to Southeast Asia. He thought he'd reached India-- a claim which he insisted on until his death-- and to this day we perpetuate his error by calling the native peoples of North, Central, and South America Indians.5. Celebration of Columbus Day is a modern artifact. With the American nursery rhyme "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" you might think celebration of Columbus Day has been around for 500 years... or maybe 200-300, at least. There were a few one-time celebrations during that time frame— and they were monstrously used as excuses to commit racial violence in the name of "patriotism". San Francisco claims the longest annual observance, at just over 150 years now. But Columbus Day as a national holiday is just over 50 years old. It's a creation from mid-20th century lobbying by Italian-American community advocates to create a positive Italian-American role model. Some say it's a reaction to the popularity of mafia stories, such as Mario Puzo's The Godfather series, typifying what Americans thought of Italian-Americans. Columbus Day became a federal holiday since 1971. I've always wondered, if we're going to pick an Italian explorer to honor, why not Amerigo Vespucci? Y'know, the guy the continents of the western hemisphere are named for??
"But don't you just hate taxes?" a lot of people whine.
"I'm part of the Bah-Humbug Brigade!" I chuckled to myself as I settled down to sleep around 8 on Christmas morning.
