Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. Columbus went ashore at Guanahaní, an island in the Bahamas, on October 12, 1492. On his return in 1493, Columbus moved his coastal base of operations 70 miles east to the island of Hispaniola, what is now the Dominican Republic and established the settlement of La Isabela, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Americas.

The Fiestas del Pilar are an annual festival celebrated in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon, in honour of the patron saint of the city, the Virgen del Pilar. The week long festival takes place every year, usually, beginning the weekend of or before 12 October, and lasts until the following Sunday.