A holiday pile-up today with Indigenous Peoples' Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, Leif Erikson Day, and, oh yeah, Columbus Day

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, Leif Erikson Day, and Columbus Day! I begin today's celebration of multiple holidays with ABC 13/13 On Your Side declaring It's Indigenous Peoples' Day in Michigan.

Monday, Oct. 9 is a national holiday called Columbus Day. But in Michigan, it's also Indigenous Peoples' Day. There are 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan.

This is a Michigan-based blog, so I'm going to feature Michigan content when I can. I also occasionally feature U.S. government content when appropriate, like Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland wishing Americans Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!

At Interior, we work hard to honor our promises to Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Island communities. Today, we celebrate the rich traditions, diverse cultures, and resilience of Indigenous communities. We honor the first stewards of this land, the Indigenous people who survived through periods of brutal colonization and forced assimilation policies.

Thank you, Secretary Haaland.

USA Today's Recognizing Native Americans on Indigenous Peoples' Day across the US | USA TODAY explains why Indigenous Peoples' Day is supplanting Columbus Day and lists when various states celebrate their own versions of the day.

A growing number of cities, states and universities are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, also known as Native Americans Day.
...
The second Monday of October has been a national holiday for close to a century, but this will be only the second year that Indigenous Peoples Day has held that designation.

Last October, President Joe Biden signed the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day, a commemoration-turned-holiday that began in 1977 to honor Native American history and culture. That presidential stamp of approval was the most significant boost to date of efforts refocusing a federal holiday that for decades celebrated Christopher Columbus' discovery of America.

Although few Americans are arguing with the notion of being off work come Monday, Columbus Day and Indigenous People's Day have prompted political debate in states, cities and municipalities around the U.S., especially in the past decade, with some pushing against change and others favoring Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

This is a good explanation of why I generally stopped celebrating Columbus Day on this blog years ago and replaced it with Canadian Thanksgiving. I'm still observing Canadian Thanksgiving as well. Watch Canadian Thanksgiving Explained from Squirreled History, an updated version of the video I embedded last year.

We remade and updated our video on Canadian Thanksgiving, where it came from and how it's different from the American version.

I subscribed to Squirreled History after last year, but haven't used one of the channel's videos again until now. I should rectify that omission.

I close with Enchanted Insights, formerly 8SA, asking Leif Erikson Day (October 9), Why do we not celebrate Leif Erikson Day?

Leif Erikson Day (October 9) - Why do we not celebrate Leif Erikson Day?

On October 9, Nordic communities worldwide will celebrate Leif Erikson Day – remembering the explorer credited with bringing the first Nordic people to America around the year 1000.

Good question. Too bad the woman behind the account is no longer making holiday videos.

Whichever holiday you celebrate, have a good one!