What is Columbus Day all about?
Celebrated the second Monday of October, Columbus Day is day set aside to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas on October 12, 1492. It is also a day to celebrate the role Italian immigrants have played in making the United States great. Columbus Day is a legal holiday in the United States. Schools, government offices, post offices, and banks are closed. Some businesses are also closed. Others stay open. Virtually all stores are open on Columbus Day, and many hold special sales. Countries in North and South America remember Columbus’s discovery in different ways. October 12 is celebrated as “Discovery Day” in the Bahamas. It is celebrated as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many parts of Latin America. It is celebrated as Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of the Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela. | top of page | How did Columbus Day become a holiday? Three hundred years passed between Columbus’s discovery of the America and the first known celebration of t
