Monday Is A Holiday
Monday October 12 is "Día de las Culturas"
in Costa Rica, a day that is traditionally
celebrated throughout the Americas as the
day Cristopher Columbus arrived in 1492. In
English speaking countries is celebrated as
Columbus Day. In other countries in Latin
America it is celebrated as "Día de la Raza".
Cristóbal Colón, as he is known in Spanish,
was born Cristoforo Colombo (Italian),
following the newly accepted theory that the
world was round and not flat, sailed west
from Spain to find a new route to China or
the East Indies. He wanted also to prove his
calculations of the earth's circumference.
He was off on his calculations and he didn't
find a new spice route. Instead, on October
12, 1492, he and his small fleet of three
ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa
Maria, landed on one of the islands now
known as the Bahamas.
With royal approval and funding, he set
forth in 1493 with a fleet of 17 ships and
retraced his earlier voyage. This time he
explored Puerto Rico and the Leeward
Islands, founded a colony on Hispaniola.
For his efforts, Columbus was made admiral
and Governor General of the new colonies
until he was sent back to Spain in disgrace
in 1500. He overcame that humiliation
sufficiently to make a fourth and final
voyage in 1502, landing in Costa Rica.
Now, 500 plus years later, we recall his
deeds and celebrate not Columbus the man,
but the actions and influences of all the
people who came after him, who melded their
European culture with the indigenous
cultures and, with difficulty, blood and
years of battle, misunderstandings and
treachery, have created the multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic society we now celebrate with
the Día de la Raza.
It was up to others to name the places where
he had landed or to discover the route to
China. Amerigo Vespucci named Venezuela afer
his native Venice, and Vasco da Gama sailed
round the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian
Ocean to the Far East, opening the Spice
Route for Portugal.
The curious of the October 12 holiday is
that only "salaried" employees get paid the
day. Hourly employees or occasional labour
is not given the benefit of the paid
holiday. |
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First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World, after the painting by Discoro Téofilo de la Puebla
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