Is Columbus Day a Real Holiday?

By Amanda Pendolino on October 12th, 2009

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Break out the bubbly! Time to celebrate Columbus Day! Okay, maybe not. Is Columbus Day even a real holiday?

The first strike against it is that many people still have to go to work. Oh, to be a kid again. However, post offices ARE closed (click here for the schedule of all the US Postal Service holidays). It’s not a long list, so I guess Chris is kind of a big deal in their eyes. Most banks are closed too, including the ubiquitous Bank of America (click here for their holiday schedule for the year). Government offices such as the DMV are also closed.

As for the famous man behind the day, Christopher Columbus basically gets credit for discovering North America, the New World of his time. However, many historians point to other explorers who found the  place first. So why does Chris get all the credit? Well, his discovery had a lot to do with money, and how Europeans could profit off of the resources of the new land. Money is power, my friends. Some people wonder if we should still bother celebrating – what do you guys think? Are we just too lazy to change our old habits? Or is it important to remember that some explorer accidentally landed here when he was trying to get somewhere else?