Quote Originally Posted by EHCAlum View Post
I always find it funny the US celebrates Columbus Day since it was the Bahamas he slammed into. The Bahamas were a British territory from the early 1700s up until 1970 something.
True enough, but remember Columbus Day is also about celebrating the contributions of Italian immigrants to the United States. The celebration of Columbus Day gained popularity at a time in the late 19th century when there was much anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant feelings, which was very similar to the experiences of Irish immigrants.

This is why the Catholic fraternal order, the Knights of Columbus, chose the Genoese navigator as their namesake when Fr. McGivney founded it in the 1880s -- to show White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans that it was possible for RC's to be "good" American citizens.

Much like the American version of St. Patrick's Day, Columbus Day is a time for the descendants of those first immigrants from Italy, itself a "new" nation in the late 19th century, to celebrate their achievements.

T.