Indigenous Peoples Day vs. Columbus Day: What’s the difference?

(NewsNation) — Monday marks the celebration of both Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day holidays, but why are there two holidays on one day and what is the significance of each?

What is Columbus Day?

You may remember growing up and celebrating the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who sailed the ocean blue and discovered the Americas in 1492 on board his Spanish ship, the Santa Maria.

It was this part of history that Americans were taught in history class about the beginnings of how civilization allegedly began in North and South America. Therefore, Americans have celebrated the discovery of the “new world” as a holiday, and hence, celebrated the man who claimed it.

However, Columbus wasn’t the first human to discover the land. In fact, he was greeted by indigenous groups who had built a culture prior to European colonization.

“Columbus was a lost explorer who stumbled into this part of the world and brought famine, colonization, the deaths of millions of Indigenous peoples,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group. “For this country to celebrate that history is absolutely disrespectful.”

Columbus’ discovery led to destruction within these indigenous groups with plague and violence. Ever since colonization, Native Americans have celebrated this day as a way of reclaiming history.

What is Indigenous Peoples Day?

The holiday is meant to recognize the painful history Indigenous people have faced and to celebrate their communities, said Tilsen, who is Oglala Lakota. But it is also “a day of protest and resistance,” he said.

The day is often marked by protests against memorials to Columbus, for environmental justice, for the return of Indigenous lands and in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Tilsen said he often participates in protests a day before celebrating with Native food, performances, art, music and traditional ceremonies.

As many as 3,000 people are expected to travel to Alcatraz Island early Monday morning to mark its occupation by Native Americans for 19 months, beginning in 1969, in what is often described as the “original land back movement,” said Morning Star Gali, California tribal liaison for the International Indian Treaty Council, which organized the event.

The event has taken place for more than 45 years and will include a sunrise prayer, traditional dance groups and Indigenous speakers from all over the world.

In New York City, Native people, including tribal chiefs, will gather throughout the long weekend at Randall’s Island Park. The ninth annual gathering, a collaboration of 14 Indigenous organizations and area tribes in the New York City metropolitan region, will include prayers and the honoring of the original inhabitants of the city, explained Matias, founder of the event.

There will also be events across Phoenix, including one organized by the Heard Museum called “Growing for the Future,” which will celebrate Indigenous culture with music, film screenings and fry bread. And in Michigan, an Indigenous Peoples Day event at Mid Michigan College is expected to feature leaders from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and the state’s lieutenant governor and is meant to facilitate collaboration between Native people and the broader community.

For people wanting to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, Tilsen said they should look out for community events and learn more about the Indigenous communities in their areas.

why are there two holidays in one day?

Columbus Day was established as a federal holiday decades ago to recognize Columbus’ sightings in 1492 of what came to be known as the Americas.

In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day. He said in a statement that the day is meant to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”

However, Indigenous Peoples Day has been recognized for decades in different forms and under a variety of names to celebrate Native Americans’ history and culture and to recognize the challenges they continue to face.

But while it has not yet been declared a federal holiday, 17 states as well as Washington, D.C., have holidays honoring Native Americans, some of which are on the second Monday in October, according to the Pew Research Center.

Indigenous Peoples Day is typically paired with Columbus Day or replaces the federal holiday altogether. Dozens of cities and school systems observe Indigenous Peoples Day as well.

“This day is about reclaiming histories,” said Kyle Mays, an associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s acknowledging the history of dispossession and violence against Indigenous people.”

Earlier this year, Anchorage and Phoenix became two of the latest municipalities to officially designate Indigenous Peoples Day a holiday. And on Monday, several U.S. lawmakers announced they had reintroduced legislation meant to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day as a federal holiday.

Cliff Matias, the cultural director for the New York-based Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council, said the significance of this day in U.S. history is that Native Americans celebrate their survival of Columbus and all that he brought.

Matias, whose Indigenous Nations are Taino and Kichwa, said a more suitable day to honor Native people would be the “summer solstice, which is a powerful day for Indigenous people all over the world. It might be some sort of day that we recognize generally correlating with our connection to the planet.”

Still, Tilsen said celebrating on this day is powerful.

“When we celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day, it shows a victory for Indigenous people,” he said. “It represents how we won’t be erased, how we still stand in our power, no matter what they did to try to kill us off and steal our land.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.