Culture of Mexico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The culture of Mexico includes many features from the nation's pre-Hispanic past and the Spanish colonial period. The people of Mexico take great pride in their country, culture, ethnicity, and lifestyle. Mexican culture also exhibits strong family, respect, hard working and socializing together in the community.
Mexico has changed rapidly during the 20th century. In many ways, contemporary life in its cities has become very similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe. Most Mexican villagers follow the older way of life more than the city people do. More than 85% of the people of Mexico live in cities of over 200,000 inhabitants. Large metropolitan areas include Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puebla-Tlaxcala, while rural areas include Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Yucatán, Aguascalientes, and many more.
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[edit] Language
Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.[1] The overwhelming majority of Mexicans today speak Spanish, however, the government recognizes 62 indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages. Some Spanish vocabulary in Mexico has roots in the country's indigenous languages, which are spoken by approximately 6% of the population.[2] Some indigenous Mexican words have even become common in the English language. For example, words such as tomato, chocolate, coyote, and avocado are Nahuatl in origin.[3]
[edit] Religion
The Spanish arrival and colonization brought Roman Catholicism to the country and became the main religion of Mexico. Today, 95% of the population are baptized Catholics, making the country as the second largest Catholic nation in the world, after Brazil.[4]
According to the Government's 2000 census, approximately 88 percent of respondents identified themselves as at least nominally Roman Catholic. Other religious groups for which the 2000 census provided estimates included evangelicals, with 1.71 percent of the population; other Protestant evangelical groups, 2.79 percent; members of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1.25 percent; "historical" Protestants, 0.71 percent; Seventh-day Adventists, 0.58 percent; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 0.25 percent; Jews, 0.05 percent; and other religions, 0.31 percent. Approximately 3.52 percent of respondents indicated "no religion," and 0.86 percent did not specify a religion.[5]
[edit] Art
Mexico is known worldwide for its folk art traditions, mostly derived from the indigenous and Spanish crafts. Pre-Columbian art thrived over a wide timescale, from 1800 BC to AD 1500. Certain artistic characteristics were repeated throughout the region, namely a preference for angular, linear patterns, and three-dimensional ceramics. Notable handicrafts include clay pottery from the valley of Oaxaca and the animal figures from the village of Tonala. Colorfully embroidered cotton garments, cotton or wool shawls and outer garments, and colorful baskets and rugs are seen everywhere. Mexico is also known for its pre-Columbian architecture, especially for public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures.
Between the Spanish conquest and the early Twentieth century, Mexican fine arts were largely in imitation of European traditions. After the Mexican Revolution, a new generation of Mexican artists led a vibrant national movement that incorporated political, historic, and folk themes in their work. The painters Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros became world famous for their grand murals, often displaying clear social messages. Rufino Tamayo and Frida Kahlo produced more personal works with abstract elements. Mexican art photography was largely fostered by the work of Manuel Álvarez Bravo. The city of Taxco, Guerrero, which is one of the oldest mining sites in the Americas, is world-renowned for its silver work.[6]
[edit] Literature
The literature of Mexico has its antecedents in the literatures of the indigenous settlements of Mesoamerica. The most well known prehispanic poet is Netzahualcoyotl. Modern Mexican literature was influenced by the concepts of the Spanish colonialization of Mesoamerica. Outstanding colonial writers and poets include Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Other writers include José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz (Nobel Laureate), Jaime Labastida, Mariano Azuela ("Los de abajo") and Juan Rulfo ("Pedro Páramo"). Bruno Traven, from german origin, assimilated into the mexican culture and wrote "Canasta de cuentos mexicanos", "El tesoro de la Sierra Madre."
[edit] National holidays
Mexicans celebrate their independence day from Spain on September 16, and other holidays with colourful festivals known as "Fiestas". Every Mexican city, town and village holds a yearly festival to commemorate their local patron saints. During these festivities, the people pray and burn candles to honour their saints in churches decorated with flowers and colourful utensils. They also hold large parades, fireworks, dance competitions, beauty pageant contest, party and buy refreshments in the market places and public squares. In the smaller towns and villages, football, boxing, cockfighting and amateur bullfighting are also celebrated during the festivities.
Other festivities include Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe ("Guadalupe Day"), Las Posadas ("The Inns", celebrated on December 16 to December 24), Noche Buena ("Holy Night", celebrated on December 24), Navidad ("Christmas", celebrated on December 25) and Año Nuevo ("New Years Day", celebrated on December 31 to January 1). "Guadalupe Day" is regarded by many Mexicans as the most important religious holiday of their country. It honours the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, which is celebrated on December 12. In the last decade, all the celebrations happening from mid December to the beginning of January have been linked together in what has been called the Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon.
Pinatas are unique to Mexican celebrations. A pinata is made from papier-mache. It is created to look like popular people, animals, or fictional characters. Once made it is painted with bright colors and filled with candy or small toys. It is then hung from the ceiling. The children are blind folded and take turns hitting the pinata until it breaks open and the candy and small toys fall out. The children then gather the candy and small toys.
[edit] Cuisine
Mexican cuisine is world-renowned for its blending of indigenous and European cultures. Popular dishes include tacos, enchiladas, Mole sauce, atole, tamales, and pozole. Traditionally the main Mexican ingredients consisted of maize, beans, chicken, pork, beef, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, chillis, onions, peanuts, avocados and guavas. Popular beverages include water flavoured with a variety of fruit juices, and cinnamon-flavoured hot chocolate prepared with milk or water and blended until it becomes frothed using a traditional wooden tool called a molinillo. Alcoholic beverages native to Mexico include mescal, pulque, and tequila. Mexican-produced beers are popular in Mexico and are exported around the world. There are also international award-winning Mexican wineries that produce and export wine.[7]
[edit] Music
The foundation of the music of Mexico comes from its indigenous sounds and heritage. The original inhabitants of the land, used drums, flutes, maracas, sea shells and voices to make music and dances. This ancient music is still played in some parts of Mexico. However, much of the traditional contemporary music of Mexico were written during the Spanish colonial period. Folk songs called corridos have been popular in the country, since the 16th century. It may tell the story about the Mexican Revolution, Pride, Mestizo, Romance, Poverty, Politics and Crime issues.
Today, popular musical groups known as Mariachis perform along streets, festivals and restaurants. A Mariachi group includes singers, guitar, trumpets, violin and marimba players. Folk dances are regarded to be one of the most important features of Mexican culture. The most significant of this dance tradition is the "Mexican hat dance", known as "Jarabe Tapatío". Traditional dancers perform a sequence of hopping steps, heel and toe tapping movements.
Other styles of music in México: Son Jarocho (Veracruz, with violins and harp), Huapango (Huasteca, guitar and violin), Son Huasteco, (Northeastern Mexico, Quinta huapanguera, Jarana and a violin), Tambora (Sinaloa, mainly brass instruments) Duranguense, and Norteña (North style, redoba and accordion).
Among the most known "classical" composers: Manuel M. Ponce ("Estrellita"), Revueltas, Jordá (Elodia), Ricardo Castro, Juventino Rosas ("Sobre las olas"), Carrillo (Sonido 13), Ibarra, Pablo Moncayo (Huapango) and Carlos Chávez.
Popular composers includes: Agustín Lara, Consuelo Velazquez ("Bésame mucho"), "Guty" Cárdenas, José Alfredo Jiménez, Armando Manzanero, Luis Arcaraz, Álvaro Carrillo, Joaquín Pardavé and Alfonso Ortiz Tirado.
Traditional Mexican music has also greatly influenced the evolution of the Mexican pop and Mexican rock genre. Latin rock musicians such as Ritchie Valens, Carlos Santana, Los Lobos, Maná, Cafe Tacuba, and Mars Volta have incorporated Mexican folk tunes into their music.
[edit] Cinema
The history of Mexican cinema goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, when several enthusiasts of the new medium documented historical events – most particularly the Mexican Revolution. The Golden Age of Mexican cinema is the name given to the period between 1935 and 1959 where the quality and economic success of the cinema of Mexico reached its peak. Some of the most well known present-day film makers include, Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores perros, Babel), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Father Amaro), and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. Stephon is the director of this scene
[edit] Sport
The traditional national sport of Mexico is Charreria, which consists of a series of equestrian events. Football is also highly appreciated and is regarded to be the most popular contemporary recreation in the country. Most states have their own representative teams. Among the country's significant teams include Club América, Chivas de Guadalajara, Cruz Azul and Pumas de la UNAM. Notable players include Hugo Sánchez, Claudio Suárez, Luis Hernández, Francisco Palencia, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Jared Borgetti, Rafael Márquez, Pável Pardo, Ramón Ramírez, Jorge Campos and Oswaldo Sánchez.
Mexico is also known for its strong boxing tradition, having produced world champions such as Julio César Chávez, Salvador Sánchez, Ricardo Lopez, Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Érik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Juan Manuel Márquez. Other popular recreational activities include lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling), baseball, fishing, scuba diving, Jai alai, cockfighting, and basketball.
The country also hosted the summer Olympic Games in 1968 and the FIFA World Cup in 1970 and 1986.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.spain-language.com/en/learn_spanish_mexico.php
- ^ http://www.moveonnet.eu/directory/country?id=MX
- ^ http://www.zompist.com/indianwd.html
- ^ "The Largest Catholic Communities." From: adherents.com. Retrieved November 10, 20086
- ^ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71467.htm
- ^ http://www.floramex.com/li-history_of_silver_in_taxco.htm
- ^ http://www.chiff.com/a/wine-baja.htm
[edit] External links
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