Columbus Day

First of all, a few questions for you to test your cultural knowledge:

• 1. Do you know what is celebrated every 12th October?
• 2. How many people have Spanish as their mother tongue?

Today is Columbus Day in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. This is a day also celebrated all over in Latin America and in Spain. In Spain is also the celebration of the religious festivity of la Virgen del Pilar, very much celebrated in Zaragoza.

It is known as “Día de la Hispanidad” in Spain and “Día de la Raza” or (Day of the Race) in México, Argentina and other Latin American countries. In Colombia it is “El día de la Raza y de la Hispanidad” (meaning “Day of the Race and Hispanity”). It is also celebrated in Perú since 2009 as “Day of the original peoples and intercultural dialogue”.

Spanish is spoken by 580 million people, and it is the mother tongue of 483 million. This makes it the second language in the world after Mandarin Chinese. There is a total of 21.882.448 students of Spanish and 75,2 of speakers that use Spanish on a more sporadic basis, with various degrees of competence. It is a big community of speakers, so great news if you are looking for someone to practice with!

Now that you know abit about this particular celebration,

• 1. Do you think it is important to maintain it?
• 2. Is there a similar celebration in your country?
• 3. Is there anything good or bad about this type of celebration?