Mark you calendars for Monday evening, October 11. La Tavola Italiana—the community Italian Club–will gather for viewing of the film “Il Bidone” (The Scam) at 7:15 p.m. in McEwen’s lower level film screening room. Il Bidone is a black and white comedy from the mid-1950s by Federico Fellini. Belk Lilbrary’s catalogue provides the following synopsis: An aging swindler, ringleader of a trio of petty thieves who impersonates priests to cheat peasants, finally realizes the futility of his life.
Remi Lanzoni describes it as “un bellissima comedia ma anche un po’ triste.” If you’re intrigued about what that means, come join us for the film. No knowledge of Italian necessary–simply a desire for a deeper appreciation of the human condition.
October 11 is Columbus Day in the United States. Columbus Day is an American holiday commemorating the date of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492. Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of Italian-American heritage.
The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the USA was held by the Tammany Society, also known as the the Colombian Order, in New York on October 12th 1792, marking the 300th anniversary of Columbus’s landing in the Bahamas.
Columbus Day was first celebrated by Italians in San Francisco in 1869, following on the heels of 1866 Italian celebrations in New York City. The first state celebration was in Colorado in 1905, and in 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as holiday in the United States. Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October, the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada.
Banks are almost always closed on this day, as are government offices. Schools are not usually closed on Columbus Day, it is also not recognized by most American employers as a day off from work.
The date of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas is celebrated in Mexico (and in some Latino communities in the USA as the Dia de la Raza (“day of the race”), commemorating the first encounters of Europe and the Americas which would produce the new Mestizo race. Columbus day also falls near Spain’s national holiday, October 12.
Some Native American activists within the United States find the holiday offensive because they object to honoring a person who they see as opening the door to European colonization and exploitation of native peoples. This has caused a persistent controversy between Native Americans and Italian-Americans. Some have argued that the responsibility of contemporary governments and their citizens for allegedly ongoing acts of genocide against Native Americans are masked by positive Columbus myths and celebrations. These critics argue that a particular understanding of the legacy of Columbus has been used to legitimize their actions, and it is this misuse of history that must be exposed. The claim made here is that certain myths about Columbus and celebrations of Columbus make it easier for people today to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions or the actions of their governments.
Tavola Italiana welcomes all persons of goodwill who wish to celebrate the beauty, complexity, contradiction and continuity of Italian language, culture and history throughout the world from pre-Etruscan times to the present.
Some have argued that the responsibility of contemporary governments and their citizens for allegedly ongoing acts of genocide against Native Americans are masked by positive Columbus myths and celebrations. These critics argue that a particular understanding of the legacy of Columbus has been used to legitimize their actions, and it is this misuse of history that must be exposed. The claim made here is that certain myths about Columbus and celebrations of Columbus make it easier for people today to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions or the actions of their governments.
Remember Simona Pari and Simona Torretta and all the other victims of aggression in our troubled world. Pace.