After May 1, the next holidayand long weekend, corresponds to the anniversary of the Battle of the Stones.
When does the May 18 holiday move to?
Is about a working holiday which runs from Thursday, May 18 to Monday 22.
Why does the working holiday of May 18 move?
As it happened with the past April 19th, and as stipulated by law, those working holidays that fall between Tuesday or Wednesday, to generate long weekends and promote tourism, are moved to the previous one. If they occur on Thursday or Friday, they are moved to the following Monday.
The same will happen on Thursday, October 12 (Día de la Raza) which runs to Monday the 16th.
What is celebrated on May 18
The Battle of Las Piedras in 1811 was the first “patriotic triumph”, as he recalls this note from The Observer. The leaders were José Gervasio Artigas, Manuel Francisco Artigas and Venancio Benavídez. On the eastern side, eleven people died; while on the other side 97 Spaniards died.
According to the Uruguay Educa portal, of the National Administration of Public Education (Anep), the battle began at 11:00.
Artigas had a thousand combatants. “The two armies had equal strength, but in any case it was a numerical equality”, holds the page of Anep.
“The Spaniards had weapons that the revolutionaries did not have, who fought with a few rifles and two cannons, but above all boleadoras, spears made from shear blades tied to tacuara canes or tree branches that they used as “prods” to herd cattle”.
Uruguay Educa points out that with “Artigas there were many softies who had gone too far, but there was also what was called the “rebellious neighborhood”people who rose up in arms”. “There were also three groups of (soft) soldiers that made up the Spanish army and they passed in favor of the Creoles in full battle”, adds the Anep portal.
“The artiguistas forces advanced in a first instance on the Spanish and, after a firefight, (Captain José) Posadas and his men retreated to an elevated area. It would seem that they were now at an advantage, since a high point is always strategic. Artigas then advanced towards the Spanish position on the left with the eastern column of cavalry under the command of Antonio Pérez and on the right, the column commanded by Juan de León. At that moment he ordered the column of his brother, Manuel Francisco Artigas, to encircle the Spaniards from the rear. In this way, Posadas and his army were locked up and surrendered.”
According to Ana Ribeiro –historian and in the current government undersecretary of the Education- He referred to the tolerance and compassion that Artigas showed at the end of the fight.
“There were softies on both sides, there were Spaniards on both sides, that is something that must be kept in mind, especially when talking about that much discussed and repeated phrase, “clemency for the defeated”because the hatred of the Spanish became general later, but at that moment, until fifteen days before, they were all on the same side and they were neighbors and relatives and people who shared the territory and a feeling of identity”. Artigas sent Father Valentín Gómez , volunteer chaplain of the revolutionary army, to pick up the saber that -as a sign of surrender- Posadas had nailed to the ground and give aid to the wounded”, reads Volume 1 of “Los tiempos de Artigas” published by El País.
