"In fourteen hundred and ninety-two / Columbus sailed the ocean blue," as we learned in grammar school. Although there were others who came to the Americas from Europe before him, it was his voyage that truly set off the age of exploration and colonization of the New World. He was a very devout Catholic, and at his first landfall he had the traditional hymn of thanksgiving, the "Te Deum," sung. All of us whose homes are here as a result of the European settlement of the Americas or of the subsequent events which depended on it ought to honor the intrepid "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" who set the events in motion. October 12 was the actual date of Columbus' arrival at Hispaniola. The United States now celebrates Columbus Day on the second Monday of October. This year, happily, the holiday falls on the actual date.
My brother tells me that in Japan, this is Culture Day. It was the Meiji Emperor's birthday. He was the one who took power back from the shoguns.
And in Canada, I understand, it is Thanksgiving Day.
So celebrate as many of these as you can.
3 comments:
In Central-and Southamerica it´s Dia se la raza, in Spain Dia de la Hispanidad. Propz Pilgrim
Thanks for the apple pie recipe.
:-)
Naturgesetz, when I saw this I thought of you - -
Wisdom 11:24 You love everything that exists and hate nothing that you have made; had you hated anything, you would not have formed it.
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God does not hate us or we would not be created gay, created lesbian, or created bisexual. Our body is the temple of the living God. God loves us or God would not live in us.
Your friend,
David
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