October 12 – Día de la Hispanidad, The Day of Spanishness

12/10/2020 10:57 AM

Day of Spanishness, history, interesting facts, spain .

Today, Spain and many countries in America celebrate The Day of Spanishness (Día de la Hispanidad), albeit not with the same name everywhere. In some countries, October 12 is the Day of the Discovery of America, the Day of the Spanish World, Day of the Spanish Race or Day of Columbus.

Why exactly October 12? Because it was then, in 1492, after more than 2 months of sailing, Christopher Columbus reached a tiny island in the Bahamas - Guanahaní, which he called San Salvador. It can be said that it was from this moment that Spain's relationship with the New World began, which at that time was still considered India and not a new continent.

Of course, this moment is perceived differently by the Spaniards, and differently by the people of South and Central America, therefore, for example, in Costa Rica, October 12 is now Cultures Day, once, like now in Mexico, it was the Race Day (Día de la Raza). In Venezuela, the Day of the Resistance of Indigenous Peoples (Día de la Resistencia Indígena) is celebrated, in Argentina, the Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity (Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural), in Chile, the Day of the Meeting of the Two Worlds (Día del Encuentro de Dos Mundos), in the USA it is Columbus Day (Día de Colon), in the Bahamas the Discovery Day (Día del Descubrimiento), in Uruguay it is the Day of the Americas (Día de las Américas), and in Cuba there is no "festival" at all.

As you can see, there are as many names as there are interpretations of this event over 500 years ago. We must remember that the conquest of America was and is perceived differently by the Spaniards and by the indigenous peoples of the new continent and their descendants, which of course is logical, obvious and justified. Why is Columbus' expedition, initiated in 1492 and continued by subsequent sailors, so controversial? We will start with the fact that we should replace the word discovery with something more correct, for example the appearance of Columbus in America, because after all, is it possible to discover something that already exists? Spain was and is proud of the achievements of Columbus and its fleet, it is proud of the events of the late 15th century, it is proud of the Empire it became shortly after. At the same time, it is obviously aware of the offenses that were committed during that period. Descendants of the indigenous peoples of the New World have a completely different point of view and learn about genocide, forced Christianization, looting, robbery and rape. I think October 12 is a day to remember both perspectives.

Pictures taken in Palos de La Frontera and in the Monastery of La Rabida. In the photo on the left are the flags of Latin American countries, and next to each flag, a box with a bit of soil brought from each of them. On the right, replicas of the Columbus caravel.s

We should also remember that October 12 is the Day of La Virgen de Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) or Our Lady of Guadalupe, who from October 12, 1928 is the queen of "Spanishness" (not the patron saint of Spain!) - Reina de la Hispanidad - she was then canonically crowned, in the presence of King Alfonso XIII, by the Primate of Spain, Cardinal Pedro Segur. We are talking about Our Lady of Guadalupe, Spain (Cáceres, Extremadura), the day of the Mexican Our Lady of Guadalupe, is celebrated on December 12.

On October 12, the capital of Aragon also celebrates the Virgen del Pilar, patron saint of Aragon and the city of Zaragoza; but it has nothing to do with the Spanish holiday.