Columbus Day -- Is It The Holiday America Forgot?

Posted: 10/9/05 at 12:52am

How many of you observe/celebrate Columbus Day?

It's a long weekend for me.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 12:58am

The only reason I really noticed it this year is I get a day off since I'm in college now. Before, we still had to go to school.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:06am

I'm in college and we have school Monday. We didn't even get Rosh Hashanah off and our school is 1/3 Jewish. Last year, we didn't get any holidays off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Hasn't Columbus Day been hi-jacked into being Coming Out Day now?

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:10am

Coming Out Day?

May I please ask you to explain that one.

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:10am

Coming Out Day?

May I please ask you to explain that one.

[Corine2]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:20am

My office is open, I even worked Rosh.
But, I don't care, I love my job.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:23am

National Coming Out Day

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:29am

Isn't that what the Gay Pride Day is supposed to be?

Now there has to be two days in the year?

Every other holiday has one day, but the gay activists are striving for two?

Poor, sad Columbus Day. The holiday America forgot.

Isn't there a thread someone on the OT board about gays doing themselves more harm than good? Asking for a 2nd holiday is really pushing the envelope.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:32am

If gay people get an entire month before African Americans move up from February, there's gonna be some problems.

[zzannahk]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:33am

i go to SUNY and we have school, i could totally use a 3 day weekend, but no, instead we have midterms! yippee!

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 1:36am

I have school on Columbus day here. i didn't have school on Columbus day durin HS though.

I had rosh off tho, which was nice... and have yom kippur off too. Yay!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 2:37am

Who really gives a f*ck about Columbus anyway? I mean he didn't discover anything did he (and honestly, how can you be said to "discover" something that had existed for centuries with its own fully functional and beautiful culture)? All he did was bring violence and disease to some unfortunate people in West Indies.

He doesn't deserve a holiday.

[Forester]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 5:35am

Still don't know why the dude get his own holiday. he didn't find America. He wasn't even the first European to come to America. Columbus day is celebrating a person who got lost.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 6:40am

Columbus was a honeybunch compared to Cortes and Pizaro.

Updated On: 10/9/05 at 06:40 AM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 9:44am

NYU has the day off for the first time in a long time after all of the madness at our school with suicides and the students' insistence that we need a day off before Thanksgiving -but they're definitely not calling it a Columbus Day holiday, just a fall break.


Most of the students are recognizing it as "Don't Kill Yourself Day."

Updated On: 10/9/05 at 09:44 AM

[jakebloke]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 10:37am

I only know one person that get's the day off work tomorrow, well besides my postman etc. So on a whole, yeah I think it's pretty much a forgotten holiday.....though it is Canadian Thanksgiving so alot of my family have it off up there.

[Plum]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 10:38am

A lot of history is myth-making, but the Columbus story has never been one of my favorites. I did, however, win some money in a Columbus Day poster contest when I was in elementary school. That was nice.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 11:00am

I agree with Margo (big surprise) that Columbus doesn't need a day for simply surviving a boat trip. And you're right, MasterLcz, Cortez and Pizzaro weren't sweetie pies, but we don't celebrate them with a special day, do we?

For all the NYers in the greoup, there's a Columbus Day exhibit in Grand Central, the centerpiece being a HUGE display extolling Justice Scalia...hmmm...Not sure why (other than his Italian heritage) he's singled out, or do I?

Posted: 10/9/05 at 11:08am

I suspect that the origins of this holiday may have been the influence of Italians-Americans at one point in our history.

It's interesting that some business and institutions observe the holidays and others do not.

There's obviously not a consensus on whether this should continue to be a holiday that is nationally observed or not.

For those of us who benefit of the extra time off, it's nice to have.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 11:32am

and as my other post state, you all seem to forget that this was the start of the dismantling and destruction of the native-American cultures in the new world........no, it should not be a holiday.

if you want a holiday purely as the first white man to step on North American shores, then we need a Lief Erickson Day....then again, even that is no reason for a holiday......

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 2:03pm

I actually had this very discussion with my boss on Friday. I refuse to celebrate the holiday. I totally agree with Elphaba, Margo and Lildogs, we should not be celebrating this, if anything it should be a national day of study and mourning for the destruction of thriving cultures and the genocide of what may be 100 million people.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 10/9/05 at 2:10pm

YAY for disease and murder!!!!


I'll be working and rehearsing.

Posted: 10/10/05 at 3:06pm

The following excerpts are from AOL Homework Help. Access is not available without an AOL account, and link would not be possible, so I have reprinted all the "things" and a few with explanations.

Not being of Italian descent all I can say is it's nice to have the day off.


10 Things You May Not Know About Columbus and His Day

By CAMERON CASWELL


1. Columbus was not the first to discover the New World.


2. Columbus coined the term "Indian."


3. Christopher Columbus wasn't actually named Christopher Columbus.



4. The District of Columbia is named after Christopher Columbus.


In 1800, the city of Washington was officially named the District of Columbia after Columbus and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue of Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York City.


5. Columbus did not set out to prove the Earth was round.



6. Queen Isabella of Spain did not pawn her crown jewels to pay for his voyage.


7. Sailor Juan Rodriguez Bermejo was the first to spot land.



8. If Columbus hadn't been Italian, Americans might not have a Columbus Day.


Out of pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of the discovery of America, Oct. 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian organizations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that date. In 1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated Oct. 12, they called it Columbus Day.


9. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited publicly for the first time during Columbus' 400th anniversary.


10. Not everyone thinks Columbus is a hero.


Although traditional historians view Columbus' voyage as opening the New World to Western civilization and Christianity, many revisionist historians view him as a villain. They believe his discoveries marked the beginning of the destruction of Native American peoples and culture. In recent years, many people who view Columbus Day as a celebration of conquest and genocide have rejected this holiday and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples Day.




Updated On: 10/10/05 at 03:06 PM

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 3:09pm

I'm lucky I have off for Christmas.

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 3:11pm

what did he "discover"? it's as if i went next door and stuck a flag in my neighbor's yard and "discovered" it for myself.