ABSTRACT
AMoNG ITS many fiestas, the Hispanic world celebrates one with the name of "El dia de la raza" (which is what is called Columbus Day in the United States). Why it should be so called remains something of an enigma. It was inaugurated in Spain in 1917 to encourage friendship with Latin America, but its name has been changed there to "El dia de la Hispanidad" -in the cause, more suitable to present times, of extolling Spanish culture rather than Spanish genes. The old name still remains, however, in Mexico and in other countries. The fiesta might, more consequentially, have been called "1be Day of Race Relations" rather than of "1be Race," for it celebrates the day on which they may be said to have commenced.
