from the Washington Post
Uncomfortable with Columbus Day? Celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving instead
By Max Fisher
October 14 at 12:33 pm
Christopher Columbus (The Ocean Blues. THE WASHINGTON POST LIBRARY)
Today is Columbus Day here in the United States and in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, a holiday marking the Italian explorer's arrival in the new world in 1492. Increasingly, it's also a day where we awkwardly reflect on Christopher Columbus's other legacy: as a tyrannical abuser of the people he met in the Caribbean. There's also the fact that he never actually visited the continental Americas.
If you feel uncomfortable celebrating a guy who did terrible things to native people in the new world, particularly given that Columbus's arrival preceded even more terrible things done to native Americans and that the United States has yet to fully confront that ugly legacy, then look to the north. Look to Canada!
Canada is one of the few countries here in the western hemisphere that does not celebrate any version of Columbus Day. Canadians are marking a holiday today, but it's a different one: Canadian Thanksgiving. Or, as it's known in Canada, Thanksgiving.
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Well now, educating this Canadian all about Christopher Columbus... I didn't know THAT about Chris! My, my. A coincidence that our Thanksgiving landed on your Columbus Day this year. Our Thanksgiving is always the second Monday in October; is that how it goes for Columbus Day in the US, too?
ReplyDeleteSending you Belated Columbus Day Greetings! Hope you had a FUN day!
Hugs... Namaste
yes, actually, and even though my personal calendar shows your Thanksgiving not Columbus Day (some of us truly prefer not to celebrate it) - I have never known of noted that your Thanksgiving was always the 2nd Monday, and I am glad to have that fact in my mind now
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