Canary Islands marks Hispanic Day

 October 12

 

Hispanic Day is a public holiday in the Canary Islands.

 

The Canary Islands are an autonomous region of Spain.

 

 

They follow the same holiday calendar as the mainland Spaniards. On October 12th, they join all the Spanish communities all over the world in celebrating Hispanic Day (“Día de la Hispanidad”), otherwise known as Columbus Day or “Fiesta Nacional de España” (Spain’s National Feast).

 

History of Canary Islands Hispanic Day

 

 

The Hispanic identity started to be forged in October 12 of 1942 when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Most precisely to the island of Guanahany, which he named “La Española” (The Spanish).

 

 

Columbus was captain of three ships: “Santa María”, the main ship, “La Niña” and “La Pinta”, two smaller ones. Creating therefore an overseas empire later united by the Spanish language.

 

 Mermaids of the Canary Islands

The Brown Girl mermaids in this lovely painting reflect a true cultural crossroads of all of the interesecting cultures that populate The Canary Islands. The Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago, consist of 7 islands in the Atlantic Ocean located just off the NW coast of mainland Africa 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. With a Canarian population of a little over 2 million (of which over 1.5 million are Canarian-born and close to 200,000 of which are from the Spanish mainland), the cultural mix includes foreign residents that are Portuguese, Italian, Flemish, German, British, Colombian, Venezuelan, Cuban, Argentinian, African and Moroccan. How about that for mixing it up? 😉 http://1browngirl.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

 

 

A Celebration of Women

sends our blessings to all the Women of our World

celebrating Hispanic Day.

 

 

Celebrate!