España First: the racist origins of Spain's Fiesta Nacional
Today, 12 October, is a public holiday in Spain. It is the date when Columbus (allegedly) discovered the Americas, and Spain reaches out to its former colonies to celebrate the notion of Spanishness. It's also the day of Our Lady of the Pillar (aka Pilar), patron of the armed forces and the Guardia Civil, hence the grand military parades which take place on the streets of Madrid and other large cities on this date every year. Many people assume that the festival was invented by General Franco, and he certainly took advantage of it to promote his particular brand of nationalism. But it dates back to 1914, just sixteen years after Spain lost the final fragments of its once vast empire. It was dreamed up by Faustino Rodríguez San Pedro, Spanish politician and President of the Unión Iberoamericana, and declared a public holiday by the King in 1918 under the name Fiesta de la Raza - Festival of Race. The Spanish Empire around 1600 An article pu...