Topic: Indigenous and Colonial Memory
How does Brazil mark Indigenous and Colonial Memory?
Dia dos Povos Indígenas
- Local date
- April 19, 2027
Brazil changed the name of this day in 2022. Law 14.402 of 8 July 2022 established 19 April as the Dia dos Povos Indígenas and repealed Decree-Law 5.540 of 2 June 1943, which had created the Dia do Índio — a singular, imported term inherited from colonial vocabulary, replaced by the plural "indigenous peoples." The law reached the statute book the hard way: the President returned it with a full veto, Message 270 of 2022, Congress overrode the veto, and the text was promulgated under Article 66, paragraph 5 of the Constitution and published in a special edition of the official gazette the same day. It is not a holiday. The federal calendar of national holidays and discretionary days off for 2026, set by Ordinance MGI 11.460 of 29 December 2025, does not contain 19 April at all; it contains 21 April, Tiradentes. On that same list, 20 November — the National Day of Zumbi and Black Consciousness — is a full national holiday. Two days of memory, one with leave attached and one without. The agency responsible was renamed too, and is now the Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas.
What is this topic?
In the United States the second Monday in October is one square on the calendar claimed by two names. Federal law has not moved: 5 U.S.C. 6103 still lists Columbus Day, and 36 U.S.C. 107 still asks the President for an annual proclamation marking "the anniversary of the discovery of America." Everything else moved around it — South Dakota replaced the day with Native Americans' Day in 1990, Maine renamed it in 2019, Alabama keeps three names on one line, and the White House issued Indigenous Peoples' Day proclamations for exactly four years. Taiwan wrote three such commemorations into statute and gave a day off to none of them, Brazil renamed its day in 2022 without making it a holiday, India created one in 2021, and Japan recognised an indigenous people without giving it a date.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.