Happy Columbus Day – Or Indigenous Peoples Day – Or Native American Day

      Today is Columbus Day or at least the legal holiday version of Columbus Day, but President Joe Biden has also proclaimed it Indigenous Peoples Day while in South Dakota it will Native American Day.

     Whatever the name, it’s a federal holiday with federal offices and financial institutions closed and no mail delivery.

       It’s a legal holiday in many states as well, including Nebraska, with state and county offices closed but with many cities still doing business as usual and most school districts having classes.

      Native American Day in South Dakota, although observed with a wide range of public programs, is not a legal holiday.

     Columbus, an Italian sailing for Spain, first made landfall in the Western Hemisphere on Oct 12, 1492, but Congress in 1971 decided to mark the legal holiday on the second Monday of the month to create a 3-day weekend.

       Columbus Day began to draw controversy in the 1970s over claims that other explorers reached the Western Hemisphere first.

     Satirist Stan Freberg offered his own take on who discovered America a decade earlier as part of his seminal 1961 album The United States Of America when he offered his account of Columbus first meeting the people of the New World. 

Stronger protests were raised from those who blamed Columbus for the near elimination of the indigenous peoples and cultures of the hemisphere.

     That led the South Dakota Legislature in 1990 to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day to recognize the more than 70,000 American Indians living in the state. It’s the nation’s oldest official holiday honoring American Indians.

 Wind Cave National Park is marking Native American Day with what Chief of Interpretation Tom Farrell says is a full schedule of events.

Farrell says it all begins appropriately with welcoming remarks from Wind Cave and the National Park Service.

At 11:00, storyteller Darrell Red Cloud will speak about the cultural significance of Wind Cave while hoop Dancer Starr Chief Eagle takes over at 1:00. Farrell is especially excited about her performance.

Throughout the day, Native American artists will demonstrate the living Native American culture on the northern plains with works by local artists available for purchase. A food truck with Native American dishes will also be there.. 

     One of the biggest Native American Day celebrations is at the Crazy Horse Memorial mountain carving northwest of Custer.

     It starts at 10:00 with recognition of the Crazy Horse Memorial Educator of the Year, who gets a $1,000 grant for their school library or other programs.

    There is a free buffalo stew lunch as well as programs and displays featuring artists, storytellers and hands-on activities for children.

     Native American groups around the country are celebrating a little more this year because of Nicole Mann of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California.

      Mann recently became the first Native American woman in space and is currently serving as commander for SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station.