leif erikson day

leif erikson day

“Hey everybody! It’s Leif Erikson Day! Hinga Dinga Durgen!” is how Spongebob Squarepants welcomed the day in the famous “Bubble Buddy” episode. Today is the favorite holiday of Spongebob Square Pants, Leif Erikson Day. Most known to children from the hit animated television show in which Spongebob decides to go share the day with his friends, but none are home to revel in the joys of Leif Erikson Day. But what is Leif Erikson Day? October 9 is not associated with any particular event in Leif Erikson’s life. The date was chosen because the ship Restauration coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825 at the start of the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.

Leif Erikson Day is an American observance occurring on October 9. It honors Leif Ericson (Leifr Eiríksson), who brought the first Europeans known to have set foot in North America, in modern day Canada. In the United States, in 1964, Congress authorized and requested the President to create the observance through an annual proclamation. Lyndon B. Johnson and each President since have done so. Presidents have used the proclamation to praise the contributions of Americans of Nordic descent generally and the spirit of discovery.

In addition to the federal observance, some states officially commemorate Leif Erikson Day, particularly in the Upper Midwest, where large numbers of people from the Nordic countries settled. In 1930, Wisconsin became the first state to officially adopt this holiday, thanks to efforts by the Norwegian-American initiator, Rasmus B. Anderson. A year later Minnesota followed suit. In 1963, the U.S. Representative from Duluth, John Blatnik, introduced a bill to observe it nationwide. The following year Congress adopted this unanimously.