Today, October 12th, is the REAL Columbus Day, despite its being established in 1971 to fall always on a Monday and to be celebrated festively by taking the day off from work to shop for reduced-price merchandise.
The arrival of Columbus being a difficult event to “celebrate,” given the centuries of death, destruction, and mad land-grabbing that followed the encounter with two great big plentiful American continents, we recognize the day here at home with a short Columbus bio read aloud, and a Native American blessing, followed by a consciously created Old World-New World meal. Encounters between civilizations, often marked by pain and loss, can also bear promising fruit. Not only botanically speaking, but in terms of eventual (even if it takes centuries) mutual enlightenment.
Tonight we will have sweet potatoes, black beans, and corn on the cob, followed by apple pie and ice cream.