"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.
