Why Do Americans Celebrate Columbus Day?
This day is named after the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. He was the one who discovered America. He set out sailing for America on 12 October 1492, which was commissioned by the Spanish King Ferdinand. Though he was sailing to find Asia, but he found himself in the modern day Bahamas.
It was first informally celebrated by various Italian and Catholic-American communities. In 1907, Colorado became the first state to celebrate Columbus Day officially. Few Italian immigrants like Angelo Noce and Siro Mangini were the people who worked with state Senator CasimiroBarela to pass the holiday into law.
Till 1937, Columbus Day was not named an official national holiday, but when President Franklin D Roosevelt was encouraged by the Catholic Fraternal Organization they declared a recurring holiday for 12th October. Later, the date was shifted by Congress to the second Monday of October.
Most of the Americans just take a day off from work while in many cities they host parades on this precious day. New York and Boston are the places that experience the most sizeable Columbus Day parades whereas San Francisco has renamed the parade as Italian Heritage Parade.
Often, Italian-Americans dress up on this day, play music, and cook delicious food to display their pride.
Several cities and states do not celebrate Columbus Day at all. Instead, the day got renamed as the Indigenous People Day, a holiday celebrating the native people of North America.
Featured Image Source: Christopher Columbus (Image: Sebastiano del Piombo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Team at World Infi