If you are not a reader – listen to this blog post here: Santa Maria

There are hundreds of Monuments of Christopher Columbus sprinkled around the globe. Of course, depending on the location, on some he appears as Colon, on others as Kolumb, etc. but it is still the same person. The man who is celebrated all over the world for the discoveries he made.

All these islands were already inhabited as such Columbus’ discovery was made only on behalf of the Europeans. The people and their lands did not need to be discovered. Imagine they arrived to the Old Continent back then and claimed they discovered new lands. Neither would be a lie in fact. But only seen as such from the perspective of the arrivals.

In the USA Columbus Day is celebrated as a national legal federal holiday, every year, on a second Monday of October to commemorate the arrival of the great Admiral of the Ocean Sea in the Americas which was on the 12th October 1492. In fairness, every Bank Holiday means a long weekend so why not….

Some Americans celebrate this anniversary with church services, some with parades and large events. Many celebrations happen in the Italian-American community with the biggest pump in New York and San Francisco apparently. In Hawaii Columbus Day is celebrated as Discoverers’ Day, but it is not a state holiday. Many states now celebrate Native Americans’ Day/Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day in the belief that:

It was the extensive Italian-American population, that began to celebrate Columbus Day first in 1869 in San Francisco. The first state-wide celebration was held in Colorado in 1907 (that’s when my Grand-grampa John was born). In 1937 (remember Disney and Snow White from my other blog Krasnoludki?), Columbus Day became a holiday across the United States. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October. The date on which Columbus arrived in the Americas is also celebrated as the Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) in Latin America and some Latino communities in the USA.

Columbus Day celebrations are controversial and for a reason. As you can see even the Dwarfs have a dilemma. It was not after Leif or Amerigo but after Columbus, who of course had the power of the Spanish monarchy backing him, that the conquistadors went on for the insane raids of the lands inhabited by the Incas, Aztecs and Mayas. Mordering the people, robbing their riches, burning their belongings, to finally take over their freedom, lands and lives. All that out of pure greed and belief that we come from the better world because we have the militarian power. And that lasted for hundreds of years continued by the French, British, Portuguese and Dutch – who has not heard about the Dutch ladies playing soccer with the heads of the Indians?

Columbus, in his 4 voyages, reached the actual mainland of Central America:

The settlement of Europeans in the Americas meant tragedy to the indigenous inhabitants, but at the same time, a win for us, Europeans. Theory of relativity again! The argument is out there and it is alive, questioning whether the damage caused by the arrival of the European settlers which led to the demise of a large proportion of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas was a direct result of Columbus’ appearance. Yes!

As such, there are people out there who praise Columbus and name him the Admiral of the Ocean Sea still but at the same time you have those that hate everythig that relates to the above facts and those decide to manifest their ideology and feelings via destruction.

In 2020, on my name day, and this is why I remember this event, which according to the Polish calendar, is celebrated only on the date of 26th July, the statue of the navigator Cristóvão Colombo, by Henrique Moreira, made in 1940 and placed in Santa Catarina park, in Funchal in 1968, was knocked down from its location and vandalised. According to the local council, there were: “multiple cracks, dents, and some wear on the surface of the piece as a result of crash to the ground”. The monument was fixed and reinstalled on the 17 December 2020.

It happens over and over around the Earth as we, humans, are restless when it comes to proving our points, some take it too far. And we build them monuments after which we end up destorying them. Where I am from, people used to put down Lenin for example. Whether we can or should compare these two, and many others, I leave to your judgement.

As I already mentioned it in my other post, Columbus passed through Madeira on three occasions during his voyages to the Americas, having docked there in 1475, 1480 and 1492.

He was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and began his career as a merchant who mediated in the sugar trade. For commercial purposes, he sailed to England, Guinea and Madeira. In 1479, Columbus married Felipa Perestrello de Moniz, daughter of the former governor of Porto Santo. He spent several years on the island, and today his house, Casa Museu Cristóvão Colombo can be visited there as well as well you may want to celebrate the Festival in September in his name.

https://dreamsdocometrue.blog/2021/12/18/the-holy-port-of-porto-santo/

The Dutchman Robert Wijntje, along with seven craftsmen, began to build the replica of Santa Maria in Câmara de Lobos – yea, the same that Churchil used to love paiting – in July 1997. Construction lasted a year and was completed in July 1998. In the same year, Santa Maria de Colombo took part in the Expo 98 exhibition in Lisbon, where almost 100k people visited it within just 25 days.

And here we come..

To summarise I can tell that these things I personally am sure of…. Christoper Columbus did not discover Americas but that does not mean he himself was not an outstanding sailor and navigator. His boat, Santa Maria was Graceful and purely wonderful. Here now listen to that – the name Anna, which is my very own, comes from Latin and means Grace. And Columbus was very lucky having her for his means of transportation. Holy Mary, Full of Grace is how they prayed on every journey and it is thanks to her that they went further than they dreamed of. And finally Madeira was made by volcanoes.

In the spirit of confusion, let’s roll into Christmas 🙂

OMG how I’d love to be in Madeira on New Year’s Eve! BTW.

Anna, Full of Grace 🙂