Happy Columbus Day!

**Antonio** · 11th October 10, 03:43 PM

Hey folks! Just thought I'd remind you that today is the day when we all celebrate the day the Italians discovered this great country of ours! LOL

I'm so stoked, I wore my kilt to work today!!!

**denmcdough** · 11th October 10, 04:25 PM

Half Italian here...my mom was born on the boot. Not sure, though, from all that I've read, that ole' Chris really discovered America. Could have been one of my long lost Viking ancestors on the Irish side!!??? Anyway, it's a good day to celebrate.

**Antonio** · 11th October 10, 04:28 PM

Well... He discovered America as we know it.... Who knows what went on around here during the dark ages when no one could even spell "historian"..... LOL

**denmcdough** · 11th October 10, 04:30 PM

Amen to that!! Ciao

**Freelancer** · 11th October 10, 06:04 PM

Happy Columbus Day to all!

**Riverkilt** · 11th October 10, 06:25 PM

Sharp look - particularly the sail emblem on the t-shirt.

Glad "someone" "discovered" what was already here - gave my ancestors somewhere to sail off to. Today is government Columbus Day - old Columbus Day is tomorrow.

I was born on the old Columbus Day - my drunken little sister always calls me and wishes me happy birthday on government Columbus Day.

**EHCAlum** · 11th October 10, 07:52 PM

I always find it funny the US celebrates Columbus Day since it was the Bahamas he slammed into. The Bahamas were a British territory from the early 1700s up until 1970 something.

**macwilkin** · 11th October 10, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by EHCAlum

I always find it funny the US celebrates Columbus Day since it was the Bahamas he slammed into. The Bahamas were a British territory from the early 1700s up until 1970 something.

True enough, but remember Columbus Day is also about celebrating the contributions of Italian immigrants to the United States. The celebration of Columbus Day gained popularity at a time in the late 19th century when there was much anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant feelings, which was very similar to the experiences of Irish immigrants.

This is why the Catholic fraternal order, the Knights of Columbus, chose the Genoese navigator as their namesake when Fr. McGivney founded it in the 1880s -- to show White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans that it was possible for RC's to be "good" American citizens.

Much like the American version of St. Patrick's Day, Columbus Day is a time for the descendants of those first immigrants from Italy, itself a "new" nation in the late 19th century, to celebrate their achievements.

T.

**ohiopiper** · 11th October 10, 08:58 PM

I'm all for celebrating Columbus day. He got it on the map, regardless of who actually "found" the landmasss in question.

Of course, I'm also for celebrating the vikings, the phoenecians, etc. Parties for all!

**Vegan Scot** · 11th October 10, 10:14 PM

Yeah, introducing European-style mass slavery and genocide to the Americas is totally something worth being proud of... I mean absolutely no disrespect to those of Italian heritage but Columbus should be remembered for more than "discovering" America. Lets keep in mind the Taino and Arawak peoples of the Caribbean who were raped, slaughtered and enslaved by European "explorers".

More recently and more importantly, today is, in many places, a day set aside to honor the indigenous people of the Americas, to more fully understand and discuss the horrible events which transpired at the coming of Cristobal Columbo, the "Christ-Bringer Colonizer", and to consider the effects of imperial expansionism on native peoples the world over, an imperialism which continues even today in "third-world" countries all over the globe.

Columbus was no hero. He was a greedy opportunist who accidentally sailed to the wrong place and brutally subjugated the people he found there who welcomed him with open arms.

Antonio, you do look sharp though.