Heritage Day

UPDATE: Look for an email at the end of the post thoughtfully sent to me from a friend.

Today is Columbus Day in the U.S. This holiday has generally fallen out of favor and overlooked in most areas if it weren't for the marketing used by shops. Really a shame because it occurs at a lovely time of year. I propose that we change it to "Heritage Day". According to Wikipedia the word:

"Heritage" refers to something inherited from one's ancestors. It has several different senses, including:

• Natural heritage, a group's inheritance of fauna and flora, geology, landscape and landforms, and other natural resources
• Cultural heritage, the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society: man-made heritage
• Food heritage
• Industrial heritage, monuments from industrial culture
• Tradition, customs and practices inherited from ancestors
• Virtual Heritage, an ICT (information and communication technology) work dealing with cultural heritage

The idea of celebrating many facets of our cultural mix feels very positive to me. In these times we often need reminders of our common links and appreciation of our different contributions.

Since early October is generally a time of autumn color it encourages me to view and appreciate nature. Not only do I try to see the variety of fall color I notice more about the nature around me in my efforts to enjoy the last season of warmth before an approaching winter.

Since it is often close to federal Election Day in early November it is a time to think about society's roles. Sadly many use "cultural heritage" to exclude rather than include. Since I am a liberal I prefer tolerance and inclusion and try to reflect it in my cultural choices.

One of the simplest ways to explore cultural choices is my choice of foods when dining or cooking. Once again we are enjoying a time of great exposure to foods from around the world.

Some would say that we recognize our industrial heritage with the Labor Day observance in September. But since that is often more focused on the "end of summer" and the beginning of the traditional school year I think it tends to lose its' focus. While there is a great focus on jobs these days due to the economic challenges we are currently facing, the industry of work also receives attention during this pre-election period.

This is a time when we begin to think of traditions as Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays approach. As a knitter I (should have) already begun any knit projects to give as gifts or for the approaching winter season. Many knit projects have rich cultural heritage due to the wonderful research by many authors such as Nancy Bush (author of Knitted Lace of Estonia), Donna Druchunas' Ethnic Knitting series, the Komi knit patterns in Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch, and knits by Scottish designer Alice Starmore to name just a few.

I confess that I am delighted in our most recent expansion into the virtual heritage created by the Internet. Due to improvements in cost and speed of computers, Internet connections (e.g., DSL), and cell phones many of us enjoy the wealth of information available each day. We commonly use online maps as often as we once used phone books to look up phone numbers. Of course, most people I know rarely memorize frequently used phone numbers because their home or cell phones store those numbers for us. Each day it is a challenge to balance my virtual experience with other more physical pursuits, even those as simple as reading and knitting.

So this Columbus Day has evolved - at least for me - into Heritage Day. I'm now off to explore.

EMAIL FROM A FRIEND

"In the same lines as your proposed "Heritage Day", in most Latin American countries is celebrated as "Dia de la Raza" or "Day of the Race" celebrating the new "race" of people that was born from the encounter and struggle between Native Americans, European, and Africans. The same thing happened in the US, and would be better off if we acknowledge that in 2010 we are all Americans, whichever way we came to be that way. And really, what is “race” but the cultural heritage that is more relevant to the human experience than whatever biological background there was."