The Day of Nationalizations

I find it striking, wandering around the streets of Maputo, and seeing avenues named for Vladimir Lenin and Mao Tse Tung. They seem like remnants of the country's communist past, vestiges of the days when revolutionaries set out to end 5 long centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and replace it with communism.

 This street, 24 de Julho (July 24th), is named for O Dia das Nacionalizações (The Day of Nationalizations), a long forgotten holiday commemorating when revolutionary and first president of Mozambique Samora Michel nationalized all real estate. I asked a few locals what they thought of the holiday, but none of them had ever heard of it. It's vestigial, a communist tailbone in the Mozambican calendar.

The same is true everywhere, I suppose. Apparently the street name Bowery in New York comes from the Dutch word bouwerij which means farm. It's left over from the Dutch colonial period when it ran through farmland. These echoes of the past go unnoticed by the locals, like fish don't notice the water. As a foreigner though, it seems so significant. I suppose that's one of the pleasures of walking down someone else's road.

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