U.S. Mission Closes for Columbus Day and Dashain festivals

October 7, 2005

The U.S. Mission to Nepal, including the Embassy, American Center, Consular Section, and USAID, will be closed from Monday, October 10, through Thursday, October 13, for Columbus Day and the Dashain festivals, national holidays of the United States and Nepal respectively. 

The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the United States took place on October 12, 1792. It commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus's landing in the New World. In 1892 President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation urging Americans to mark the day.  Since 1971 Columbus Day, designated as the second Monday in October, has been celebrated as a federal holiday.  In many locations across the country Americans parade in commemoration of the day.

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