Washington, Oct 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) October 12th is celebrated as the Columbus Day. Today is the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492 in the Julian calendar and October 21, 1492 in the modern Gregorian calendar.

Generally this day is celebrated by making model ships and reciting poems that refer to Columbus. Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in the early nineteen hundreds, and became a federal holiday only in 1934. But people have celebrated Columbus’ voyage and his discovery since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World.

Though this day is celebrated with fervor in most parts of the world, it is not without its detractors. In the summer of 1990, some 350 Native Americans, representatives from all over the hemisphere, met in Quito, Ecuador, at the first Intercontinental Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas, to mobilize against the happy celebration of Columbus Day.

The following summer, in Davis, California, more than a hundred Native Americans gathered for a sequel meeting to the Quito conference. They declared October 12, 1992, “International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.”

The largest ecumenical body in the United States, the National Council of Churches, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, “What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others.”