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October is Italian Heritage month
join us on October 8 at the Nation's first Columbus Monument in Pueblo, Colorado
view the invitation and directions below --
Photo Montage of the Christopher Columbus Monument in
Pueblo, Colorado USA
Columbus Day first
became an official state holiday in Colorado in autumn of 1905,
and became a
federal holiday in the United States in 1937,
though people have celebrated Columbus's 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. When
thinking about the Columbus Day holiday it helps to remember the good
intentions of the people who put together the first parade in New York.
Columbus Day was first proclaimed a national holiday by President
Benjamin Harrison in 1892, 400 years after Columbus’s first
voyage. The idea, lost on present-day critics of the holiday,
was that this would be a national holiday that would be special for
recognizing both
Native Americans, who were here before
Columbus, and the many immigrants—including Italians—who
were just then coming to this country in astounding numbers. It was to
be a national holiday that was not about the Founding Fathers
or the Civil War, but about the rest of American history.
Like the Columbian Exposition dedicated in Chicago
that year and opened in 1893, it was to be about our land and all its
people. Harrison especially designated the schools as centers of the
Columbus celebration because universal public schooling, which had only
recently taken hold, was seen as essential to a democracy that was
seriously aiming to include everyone and not just preserve a governing
elite. Day is for all Americans. It marks the first encounter that
brought together the original Americans and the future ones. Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a
celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City
on October 12, 1866. Columbus Day was first enshrined as a legal holiday
in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first
generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide Columbus Day holiday
was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it
was made a statutory holiday in 1907.[7]
In April 1934, as a result of lobbying by the
Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader
Generoso Pope, Congress and President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed October 12 a
federal holiday under the name Columbus Day.[7][8][9] Since 1970 (Oct. 12), the holiday has been fixed to
the second Monday in October,[10]
coincidentally exactly the same day as
Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada fixed since 1957. It is generally
observed nowadays by banks, the bond market, the
U.S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, most state government
offices, many businesses, and most school districts. Some businesses and
some stock exchanges remain open, and some states and municipalities
abstain from observing the holiday.[11]
The traditional date of the holiday also adjoins the anniversary of the
United States Navy (founded October 13, 1775), and thus both
occasions are customarily observed by the Navy (and usually the
Marine Corps as well) with either a 72- or 96-hour liberty period.
Actual observance varies in different parts of the United
States, ranging from large-scale parades and events to complete
non-observance. Most states celebrate Columbus Day as an
official state holiday, though many mark it as a "Day of
Observance" or "Recognition" and at least four do not recognize
it at all. Most states that celebrate Columbus Day will close
state services, while others operate as normal. San Francisco claims the nation's oldest continuously
existing celebration with the Italian-American community's
annual Columbus Day Parade, which was established by
Nicola Larco in 1868, while New York City boasts the
largest. As in the mainland U.S., Columbus Day is a legal holiday in
the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. In the
United States Virgin Islands, the day is celebrated as both
Columbus Day and "Puerto Rico Friendship Day". Virginia also celebrates two legal holidays on the same day,
Columbus Day
and
Yorktown
Victory Day, which honors the final victory at the
Siege of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War. The date Columbus arrived in the Americas is celebrated in
many countries in Latin America. The most common name for the
celebration in Spanish (including in some Latin American
communities in the United States) is the
Día 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. Since the 18th century, many Italian communities in the
Americas have observed the
Discovery of the New World as a celebration of their
heritage; Cristopher Columbus (whose original, Italian name is
"Cristoforo Colombo") was an Italian explorer, citizen of the
Republic of Genoa.[6] In Italy, Columbus Day has been officially celebrated since
2004 - it is officially named Giornata nazionale di
Cristoforo Colombo. The "Lega Navale Italiana" has created a
Regata di Colombo
as a celebration of the Columbus achievement.[45]
Italians have celebrated their "Cristoforo Colombo" naming after
him many civilian and military ships, like the ocean liner
SS Cristoforo Colombo. The holiday marks the
event,
not the person. What Columbus gets criticized for nowadays are
attitudes that were typical of the European sailing captains and
merchants who plied the Mediterranean and the Atlantic in the
15th century. Within that group he was unquestionably a man of
daring and unusual ambition. But what really mattered was his
landing on San Salvador, which was a momentous, world-changing
occasion such as has rarely happened in human history and a
great reason to reflect on why we have the opportunity to even
discuss this today, here in America! Keep in mind that if he had not made the
journey 526 years ago, YOU and I wouldn't be here ---
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