Friday, October 12, 2012

Día de la Raza (Columbus Day) in Mexico

Today marks the 520th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas!


Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate this anniversary (which occurred on October 12, 1492) as an official holiday. The event is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, and as Día de la Raza in many countries in Latin America.

But there's a BIG difference between these celebrations. Whereas in America, Columbus Day is an ancestral celebration, Latin Americans, as a counter to Columbus Day, celebrate resistance against the arrival of Europeans to the Americas!

As wikipedia explains:

The most common name for the celebration in Spanish (including in some Latin American communities[29] in the United States) is the Día de la Raza ("day of the race" or "day of the [hispanic] people"), commemorating the first encounters of Europeans and Native Americans. The day was first celebrated in Argentina in 1917, Venezuela and Colombia in 1921, Chile in 1922, and Mexico in 1928. The day was also celebrated under this title in Spain until 1957, when it was changed to the Día de la Hispanidad ("Hispanity Day"), and in Venezuela until 2002, when it was changed to the Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance). Originally conceived of as a celebration of Hispanic influence in the Americas, as evidenced by the complementary celebrations in Spain and Latin America, Día de la Raza has come to be seen by some in Latin America as a counter to Columbus Day; a celebration of the resistance against the arrival of Europeans to the Americas and of the native races and cultures.

"In the U.S. Día de la Raza has served as a time of mobilization for pan-ethnic Latino activists, particularly in the 1960s. Since then, La Raza has served as a periodic rallying cry for Hispanic activists. The first Hispanic March on Washington occurred on Columbus Day in 1996. The name has remained in the largest Hispanic social justice organization, the National Council of La Raza.

[What do Mexicans think about this holiday? Click here to see a local Facebook page..]


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