Pascua Florida Day Marks Historic Landing and Christian Roots of Florida’s Founding
BREVARD HISTORY — April 2 marks Pascua Florida Day, a little-known Florida observance tied directly to the Easter season and the Christian roots of the land we now call home.
Established as an official holiday by the Florida Legislature in 1953, Pascua Florida commemorates the arrival of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in 1513. Many historians place his landing along the Florida peninsula near present-day Melbourne Beach.
Days before, Ponce de León sighted “an island” while sailing north from Cuba and is recorded to have said, “Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who hast permitted me to see something new.”
Ponce and his crew were Spanish Catholics sailing under commission from the Spanish crown and were tasked with expanding the Christian faith into the New World alongside their exploratory venture.
After first sighting land on March 27, the expedition came ashore one week after Easter, on April 2, and named the land La Florida in honor of Spain’s Easter season, Pascua Florida, often translated as the “Feast of Flowers,” reflecting both the time of year and the lush landscape encountered by the explorers.
Ponce de León returned to Florida in 1521 on a second expedition commissioned by King Ferdinand V to establish a settlement and spread the Catholic faith among the native peoples. Shortly after landing along the southwest coast, the party was attacked, and Ponce was mortally wounded. He retreated to Cuba, where he later died.
Some historians have conjectured that upon landing, Ponce may have recited a prayer attributed to Christopher Columbus, from whom he may have learned it:
"Almighty and Eternal Lord God, Who by Thy Sacred Word has created heaven, earth, and sea, blessed and glorified by Thy Name and praised be Thy Majesty, and grant that through Thy humble servant Thy Sacred Name may be known and preached in this other part of the world. Amen."
More than five centuries later, the legacy of that moment remains embedded in both the name of the state and its history. Here on the Space Coast, as we celebrate the launch of Artemis II and humanity’s first return voyage to the moon since 1972, Pascua Florida serves as a reminder that the story of Florida began not only in exploration, but in the proclamation of the Christian faith.
Editor
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