October 14, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, October 14.
Today we focus on Change, on Christianity, on Columbus. Happy Columbus Day, by the way, or maybe you had forgotten about this holiday. That would be understandable - Columbus Day isn't what it used to be. But if you've studied the history of this holiday, you know that it has always been marked by change.
Christopher Columbus, on October 12, 1492, landed on an island in what is now the Bahamas. He thought he had reached the Far East, what was then called The Indies. And so, the native people who greeted these strange visitors were given the name "Indians", a name that unfortunately stuck, and forever after has been a reminder that Columbus had no idea where he was. With the way history usually works, it's amazing that we don't call our nation "Columbia". But Amerigo Vespucci, another noted Italian navigator, recognized that this was a New World, and so we live in America.
The first official observance of Columbus Day in America came in 1792, the three-hundredth anniversary, with a celebration in New York City. During the 1800's it was celebrated mostly in major cities, especially those with large Italian immigrant communities. New Orleans was one of those places, but along with Italian immigrants came violent racism. And there, in 1891, the largest single lynching in U.S. history occurred, as 11 Italian Americans were seized by a mob and brutally murdered.
President Grover Cleveland, partly in response to that tragedy, declared a one-time commemoration of Columbus the next year, the 400th anniversary. But it wasn't until 1934 that Franklin Roosevelt signed a proclamation declaring the second Monday in October to be Columbus Day. Before Congress could make it a federal holiday, though, the United States found itself at war with Italy, and during the 1940's many Italian immigrants were put into containment camps, some right here in Texas.
It wasn't until 1971 that Columbus Day was officially established. But in the last 50 years, public opinions about this holiday have continued to change. Most states - Texas included - no longer officially observe it, and many have changed the name to Indigenous Peoples Day. Change has always been a part of Columbus Day.
Christopher Columbus' first name means "bearer of Christ". He reached the new world on a ship called Santa Maria - "Holy Mary". And when he stepped out on what he thought was Asia, he called it San Salvador - "Holy Savior". An initial goal of the Spanish was to spread the gospel of Christ. But that goal soon gave way to another purpose - greed.
Still today, we who call ourselves Christians struggle with change, struggle with finding our purpose, struggle to keep our faith relevant in this ever-changing new world.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
