And while some may haggle over not getting that four day Christmas weekend, the real controversy is that "El Dia De La Raza". It's observed throughout Latin America's as a substitute for Columbus Day - and is an alternate way of looking at the arrival of Europeans unto these shores. It celebrates - basically - the hispanic culture that Columbus brought with him and the Mestizo culture that resulted from that mixed indigenous and European heritage.
So, they're not celebrating Columbus - but celebrating his legacy - which cultural watchdogs say is still looking at October the 12th through a colonial lens. And it has generated a storm of blowback on Facebook - many lamenting that this new, mysterious holiday is introduced, yet Commonwealth Day, on May 23rd was removed. As is the norm with Facebook, there are howls of protest making all kinds of criticisms of the new holiday, not least, its resemblance to a certain colourful curse word.
But, beyond the social media blowhards, there are quite a few making reasonable, cogent arguments against the new Holiday, or at least the name given to it. We spoke to Maya cultural advocate and activist Batab Masewal Chuc, who shared his pointed remarks on why it is misguided and ignorant but perhaps not malicious to declare such a day:
Batab Masewal Chuc, Mayan Cultural Activist
"I feel sad and angry at the same time, because Dia de la Raza is a continuation of the conquest, a continuation in trying to continue to eradicate the indigenous, being resisting for over 500 years of colonialism in different ways; in wars, in cultural preservation, because we are not victims, but we are survivors. Raza was a term used by the Europeans, more specifically the Spanish. If the idea was that Raza would mean cultural diversity, or trying to celebrate the cultural diversity in Belize, they would have used another term like Belize Heritage Day or Belize cultural day, but Dia de la Raza shows high level of ignorance of the history of the Americas and the suffering of indigenous people, not only in Belize, but throughout the world, so it's very painful that we continue to celebrate or wanting to celebrate this ideology. There will be people that will try to justify it saying, but Dia de la Raza is for the Latinos and Hispanics - those are incorrect terms. A lot of those people have been trapped, which they are truly indigenous or Maya and now they called themselves Hispanic, because the media continue to push this ideology. So if I speak English it does not make me an English man. So why speaking Spanish will make me a Hispanic. So I want to believe that the term Dia de la Raza was made more than a lack of knowledge of history, rather than something malicious. So, Dia de la Raza will be a holiday, but many Maya. especially the Yucatec Maya population in Belize will continue to call it indigenous resistance day. We are here, we are alive and we are Maya."
We did try to reach the Minister of Home Affairs for comment but he didn't reply to our request.
