Día de la Hispanidad, Día de la Raza, Fiesta Nacional de España--whatever name you give to the 12th of October, it remains a national holiday, complete with military parade in Madrid, celebrating the arrival of Christopher Colombus on American soil and beginning of Spanish colonization. Schools, businesses and public offices were closed for the day.
But if you don't exactly identify as Spanish, or don't think the beginning of colonization is something to be celebrated, the holiday isn't that meaningful, though a day off is always appreciated. But if you're a Basque who doesn't identify as Spanish, and on top of that feel some antagonism toward the Spanish state, it would be impossible to let the symbolism of October 12 and its flaunting of Spanish dominance pass by quietly.
Some students at my school organized a protest encouraging students to...come to school on October 12. The doors were locked, the teachers were at home, but some students showed up in a kind of symbolic eff-you to the Dia de la hispanidad. I have to hand it to these students; everyone accuses teens of expressing their adolescent rebelliousness by half-heartedly taking on the hippest political/social cause of the day. But these students who came to school on a day off are obviously 100% dedicated to what they believe in.
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