According to Talia

What you need to know, straight from the source: Ms. Talia Page

Monday, October 09, 2006

Happy Columbus Day

Normally I wouldn't even think twice about Columbus day, but it turns out this is one of the perks to working for an Italian(besides the free eggplant parm at LEAST twice a week)! I am home in my pjs right now, while most you you clowns are at work, so give it up for my boy Christopher Columbus! One love, my brotha!

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From Wikipedia
Columbus Day is a holiday celebrated in many countries in the Americas, commemorating the date of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Similar holidays, celebrated as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in many countries in Latin America, Discovery Day in the Bahamas, Hispanic Day in Spain, and the newly-renamed (as of 2002) Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela, commemorate the same event.
Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Columbus Day was first celebrated by Italians in San Francisco in 1869, following on the heels of 1866 Italian celebrations in New York City. The first state celebration was in Colorado in 1905, and in 1937, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a holiday in the United States. Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada.
Italian-Americans feel pride in the day due to the fact that Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, sailed to the Americas. Many royal courts were interested in financing the voyage, but Spain financed the ships for Columbus' brainchild. Other Americans are embittered by this victory for Columbus because of the ensuing genocide of Native Americans after Columbus' arrival. In the United States,
Banks and government offices are closed on Columbus Day