Author’s Note: Research is credited to National Day Calendar, Wikipedia, and BBC

Spongebob did not make up Leif Erikson Day.

I didn’t even know it was a holiday until someone brought the famous scene to my attention. No, the holiday is not fake. It is very much real, and Leif Erikson was a real person who lived over a thousand years ago.

If you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, that’s OK; I’m here to explain why this is important.

National Leif Erikson Day is celebrated every year on Oct. 9, and yes he was a real person. He is the first known explorer to bring a European expedition to North America and has a national holiday dedicated in his name.

Leif Erikson (or “Leif the Lucky”, as he was known) was born sometime between 970 and 980, presumably in Iceland. His father was the famous Norseman Erik the Red, who was banished from Norway for manslaughter. The family lived first in Iceland, then Greenland, whose name is credited to Leif’s father. 

The Erikson family were among the colonists who established the first permanent settlement in Greenland in 986.

The life of Leif Erikson involves much speculation and educated guesses. It is assumed that around the year 1000, Leif visited his father’s homeland in Norway, where he converted to Christianity. He was sent back to Greenland to evangelize to the settlements there.

Erikson is credited with being the first known European in Canada. In one story, on his return to Greenland, his ship was blown off-course, and they were forced to land where Erikson called “Vinland,” which means “land of wine,” due to the grapes that abounded in that area (the exact location of Vinland is unknown, but presumed to be around the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Eastern Canada).

In another story, Erikson is said to have learned about Vinland through another sailor, who found the land when his own ship was off course, but he did not dock there. Leif took the stories from this sailor and rediscovered the place for himself.

He brought back stories to Greenland of the untouched land he had explored and other explorers set out to see North America for themselves.

Upon his return to Greenland, Leif’s father Erik the Red died, making Leif the chief of the people of Greenland. 

Leif was last mentioned in 1018 in the “Saga of St. Olaf.” By 1025, it is mentioned that a new chief was in place in Greenland. There is no documented evidence of Leif’s death, but historians assume his death occurred between those two time frames. 

Leif himself did not have a huge impact on the world during his lifetime, but his explorations to Canada opened the door for more Scandinavian exploration and he is an honored figure among Scandinavian heritage. 

On Oct. 9, 1825, the ship Restauration arrived in New York Harbor, carrying fifty-two Norwegian Quakers. They formed the first organized Norwegian immigration to the U.S.

In 1963, centuries after Erikson’s death, U.S. Representative John Blatnik from Duluth, Minnesota introduced a bill petitioning for National Leif Erikson Day to be observed across the nation. The bill was passed in 1964 and named Oct. 9, the day the Restauration landed, as the holiday.

Here in the Upper Midwest, most of the population has Scandinavian blood in their veins. We still celebrate the culture our ancestors brought from Europe, with things like food, holidays and historic sites. Leif Erikson started the culture of the Upper Midwest nearly a thousand years ago, and the effects of his explorations are still seen today.