# Leif Erickson Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826 "2002-07-19T16:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/21 "2002-07-21T16:11:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **I had not actually heard that there _was_ a real [Leif Erikson Day](http://www.libertynet.org/~viking/histback.shtml), and figured (based on the history of recent TV to lampoon twits) that the _Spongebob_ reference was to the earlier groups.** The idea on the program was that SpongeBob invented it himself. (As the narrator describes it, SpongeBob loves holidays so much he celebrates one every day…even if he has to make them up.) Seeing that he lives under the ocean, that may be true in his case. “Hey Gary! It’s Leif Erikson Day! Hinga-dinga-durgin!” ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/22 "2002-07-21T21:23:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*_There were occasional efforts at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries to get more recognition for our good, Germanic, pale-skinned, Northern European discoverer so as to minimize the contributions of those swarthy, Latin (Italian and Spanish–and Catholic) explorers who started coming in 1492._ > > \*\* Pale? I had no idea he was an albino! ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/23 "2002-07-22T06:38:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **Sorry. I did not intend to suggest that Scandinavians should be prohibited from celebrating their culture.** No offense taken. 🙂 Now off to that “classical art penises” thread… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/24 "2002-07-22T13:28:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > \*\*I feel silly; I’d thought it was a legitimate day. > \*\* I feel even sillier. I was wondering why we would name a holiday after the guy who sang “I Was Made For Dancing.” I need sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/25 "2002-07-22T13:48:10Z")
[What about the Welsh, then?](http://www.barstow.cc.ca.us/wac/madoc.htm) Admittedly, 1170 is post-Erikson… but, if these speculations are to be credited, Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd founded an actual colony quite a way before Columbus. (_Are_ they to be credited?) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/26 "2002-07-22T14:04:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Admittedly, 1170 is post-Erikson… but, if these speculations are to be credited, Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd founded an actual colony quite a way before Columbus. (Are they to be credited?) I’ve got a book at home entitled **Madoc** that claims that there’s no real basis for this – he’s not even in the Welsh king lists. On the other hand, William Boland devotes a chapter to him in his omnibus **They All Discovered America** , and includes a picture of the plaque devoted to him down in Kentucky. My take: They travel all the way to America and they don’t find a place to land and stake out until _Kentucky_? About as believable as the Kensington rune stone in _Minnesota_. At least the folks who claim the Vikings, the Irish, and Prince Sinclair of the Orkneys all put their putative landing points up in New England. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826/27 "2002-07-22T14:23:09Z")
Ah, but how do you account for this > [@](#): > > The Mandan have a tradition which tells of a Lone Man who came to them in a ship, bringing spotted cattle. He also brought tales of an inundation which swept the earth, a story similar to the story of Noah and his Ark. [(Source)](http://www.welshdragon.net/resources/myths/madoc2.shtml). An inundation which swept the earth? Could there _be_ a better description of Welsh weather? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leif-erickson-day/119826.md?page=1)