SPAIN’S NATIONAL FIESTA, FROM COLUMBUS TO CROWN PRINCESS LEONOR
Left: Columbus on arrival in the Americas, 1492. Right: Leonor, Princess of Asturias, royal luminary
by Jack Wright
If it’s the 12th of October then it’s a national holiday in Spain. Sometimes known as the Dia de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Day) which pays tribute to Spain’s legacy to the world, especially to Hispanic America, it is officially the Día de la Fiesta Nacional de España or National Day of Spain.
Columbus at the Court of the Catholic Monarchs. (The marriage of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon II and Isabella of Castille led to the unification of Spain. Financially exhausted from the Reconquista, they commissioned Columbus to search for a westward route to Asia and find gold and spices. In the course of the exploration, Columbus landed in the Americas.)
The Fiesta Nacional commemorates Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on 12 October 1492, 532 years ago this12 October 2024. The historic date marked a milestone of global magnitude: at long last the alien and entirely different worlds of Europe and America were brought into contact with one another. It would not be long from that point on before intrepid explorers in the employ of the Spanish Monarchs during the first flush of the post-Reconquista would circumnavigate the world. It was the first ever of such an exploit. What the Fiesta Nacional is celebrating, therefore, is the era of globalization as ushered by Spain. A no mean feat by any measure.
Today’s historical celebration
The National Day was made official by King Alfonso XIII in 1918 as a celebration of Spain’s global power but what with the Law of 1987 (Ley 18/1987, de 7 de Octubre), the Fiesta Nacional morphed into “una efeméride histórica en la que España, a punto de concluir un proceso de construcción del Estado a partir de nuestra pluralidad cultural y política, y la integración de los Reinos de España en una misma Monarquía, inicia un período de proyección lingüística y cultural más allá de los límites europeos”.
In plain English, the Fiesta Nacional is, under the Ley 18/1987 de 7 de Octubre, “a historical anniversary that marks the completion of the process that enabled the Spanish State, based on its cultural and political plurality, as well as the integration of various Spanish Kingdoms into one single Monarchy, to initiate a period of linguistic and cultural projection beyond the European frontiers.”
Cognizant, if belatedly, of the adverse effects of Columbus’s arrival on the native populations, today the Ministry of Defense asserts that the 12th of October is “a fiesta of union, of brotherhood, which, moreover, highlights Spain’s ties with the international community.” The old Spanish Empire, when not downplayed or glossed over, is swept under the rug. Colonization is a bad word.
A wet Fiesta. L-R: HRH Leonor, Princess of Asturias; King Felipe VI; Queen Consort Letizia; President of ther Government Pedro Sánchez; and Minister of Defense Margarita Robles.
As in years past, in 2024 the main fiesta was held in Madrid. Once again, patriotic pride brimmed among the thousands who gathered to watch — under umbrellas — what would have been a spectacular military parade kicking off at the Paseo del Prado. It has been pouring relentlessly, so much that the unflappable military marching in the parade were soaked to the skin. What was more, the airshow (desfile aereo), where Air Force planes drew the country’s colors in the sky, had to be canceled for security reasons. The paratrooper who would have parachuted down from the grey skies to offer Felipe VI his standard, in celebration of the tenth year of his enthronement as King of Spain, had to forego the task and honor.
Never mind the rain. President Pedro Sanchez is charmed by the young princess, resplendent in her midshipman uniform. Her proud father, King Felipe VI, who is Captain General of the Armed Forces, looks on.
Presiding over the national and nationalistic event, the King and Queen are nevertheless overshadowed by the heir apparent. Leonor, the unaffected, charismatic, and charming nineteen-year-old Princess of Asturias is the darling of the media and the townfolk. Despite the lousy weather, she was radiant in the gala uniform of the midshipman, her rank in the Spanish Armada, having entered the Naval Academy of Marin as part of her overall training as the future Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. She is a fresh source of national pride able to elicit optimism among the Spanish people disenchanted with a monarchy that has been badly battered by the financial and extramarital scandals of Felipe VI’s father, Juan Carlos I.
What else was new in the Fiesta Nacional 2024? The flags of Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal, and the Czech Republic flew in the military parade. Along with Spain, these four countries form part of the so-called Enhanced Forward Presence, the multinational brigade that reinforces NATO’s eastern flank.
In addition, the flag of the United Nations had a prominent place in the parade. It was escorted by a military squad, to honor the Spanish soldiers deployed with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
More than 4000 members of the Spanish armed forces joined the parade
The motorized parade boasted 117 vehicles, two of which belonged to the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional Para el Desarrollo (Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Progress), apart from the 49 motorcycles.
Boasting the overall parade were more than 4000 members of the Spanish Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, not to mention the more than 200 horses.
Videos
Live coverage of the Fiesta Nacional de España
https://youtu.be/OTA6o8CIDJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXa7b3K2BBM
Stills
> Featured image (Guidepost collage): Columbus landing in 1492/Source: US Library of Congress, CCO via Wikimedia Commons. Princess of Asturias/Vox Congreso, PD via Wikimedia Commons. Background: Fiesta Nacional de España 2022/Vox España, CCO, via Wikimedia. Commons.
>”Christopher Columbus at the Court of the Catholic Monarchs,” 1850. Painter: Juan Corder (1822-1884). Source/Photographer: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/uAG_1n4q2DLcuA. PD via Wikimedia Commons.
> Wet Fiesta/Pool Moncloa Gobierno de España-Fernando Calvo
> UNFIL logo/UNFIL, PD
> Militarty parade/Javier Perez Montes, CC BY-SA4.0 vi Wikimedia Commons
