An Essay On Mexican Culture

Growing up in an area with a large Mexican community I never really understood how much my culture means to me. I grew up with the stories my dad and grandfather would tell me about my ancestors. My people were the raiders from the hills of Mexico City and that we were a family of warriors. I never held much weight to the warrior part of my grandfather’s stories but I did know that my great grandfather was a fighter. He left Mexico and rode the train up to Denton Texas and sold tamales on the square his entire life. He fought to give my grandfather a better life here. I don’t talk about my dad’s side of the family much, in this day in age being seen as white has more advantages than being seen as Mexican. This thought changed as I came to

It is a known fact that every human being communicates through language, but perhaps a little known fact that we communicate even through the food we eat. We communicate through food all the meanings that we assign and attribute to our culture, and consequently to our identity as well. Food is not only nourishment for our bodies, but a symbol of where we come from. In order to understand the basic function of food as a necessity not only for our survival, we must look to politics, power, identity, and culture.

I am a Mexican born in America, and I consider myself a Mexican-American because of my values and how I live my life. In general, society will label us what they consider to be true, but we must not let ourselves be defined by this. As long as we believe we are who we are, racial identification should not impact ourselves or others. Rather our way of carrying ourselves culturally

The culture of Mexico reflects the country’s complex history and is the result of the gradual blending of native culture with Spanish culture and other immigrant cultures. Mexico’s culture revolves around and is most prominent in music, food, and celebrations. The combination of beliefs and customs creates the unique Mexican culture.

a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This

In our society today, culture is not what it used to be hundreds of years ago. There is no more “pure” culture. Our culture today is enriched with many different traditions and customs that are being shared and adopted. Due to emigration and immigration, a variety of diverse customs, beliefs, and knowledge moved with every exiting and entering human being. Thus, changing and shaping the culture of many. Throughout the world, the beliefs and religious views of culture are dissimilar around the world. By taking the time to read, listen and learn about certain people’s culture, there will be knowledge and understanding that will be gained.

Mexican culture dates far back as the 13th century. This is when the Aztecs were prevalent in northern mexico. Aztecs were a people who were all about war and honor. They made many enemies going to war with smaller tribes and brutally killed their enemies. In the 16th century the Aztecs Empire crumbled due to the invasion led by Hernan Cortez. Disease, superior weapons, and aid of the Aztec’s enemies were all contributing factors to the Aztecs downfall. Fast forward September 16th 1810 when Mexico gained its independence from Spain Mexico's identity started to develop. Mexican culture is defined by many things, its food, its language, its clothing, its art. However, There is one aspect that defines Mexican culture and that is family life. Mexicans have a very rich family life that defines the culture. The way that family is organized and the way each member acts can be traced back to the very beginning. It's a mixture of the indigenous peoples culture as well as the Spaniards culture. The indigenous peoples pass on their ideas of honor and machismo and the Spaniards pass on their ideas of catholicism, and family value and structure. I fit into this because I grew up on these ideas and my family still practices some of these ideas today.

So many people put labels on us just because we come from a different state but in reality we are all the same we all come in different shapes and sizes and color too. Although I consider myself as a Hispanic Latina and Mexican American. This are the Labels best reflect my identity because it reminds me of where my roots are from and where my family is from and my culture. I prefer these terms over the others because this is what I call myself like Mexican American my parents are from Mexico but I was born in the US and raised. Hispanic and Latina I speak Spanish my roots are from Mexico but born and raised in the US.

A cultural analysis is a combination of many elements. Cultures have traditions, customs, habits, beliefs, practices, and values. Each culture can have different traditions in their own essence. These traditions can come from their ancestors ' and passed down the generations. However, some people don’t like to continue their ancestors traditions and adapt others customs from another culture. The culture change depending on the time and place. The enrichment of cultures consists of adaptation and acceptance of another culture 's beliefs. Not all of the people can tolerate other cultures, traditions, languages or stereotypes. Cultures attack or support other cultural values The Mexican culture is hard-working and are strict in their values and traditions. The power and oppression of the cultures are current; social and economic conditions in the people in cultures. The Mexican culture has social and economic conditions oppressed by the power of its Government. In the play “Los Vendidos” Luis Valdez, talks about the multiple accent and background of Mexican people.

The latest survey by the US census portrayed the big change that is happening after the influx of Latinos in the country. There is a Latino identity that’s neither white nor black she mentioned, and it is a positive identity. It appeared that 48% of latinos claimed to be white. Classifying themselves as whites connotes that they have already assimilated to the American Culture The survey wrapped up that there is a considerable demographic shift identifying Latinos to be increasingly aligned with the color that that defines America. On the other hand, 42% of Latinos marked other race, and 2% claimed to be black. Even in the census, to be white signifies the dominance and the notion that it is better than non-white. People who look similarly share the qualities that are perceived to be alike. They usually enjoy similar success and suffer similar sorrows. This method of collection racial data augmented debates however it revealed many things. It is undeniable that the cultural and social construction of Latino in the US is growing exponentially and the race and ethnicity that used to define and unite them has now become the margin that split them

From January 20 to 23, I went to Santa Fe and San Ildefonso in New Mexico with Dr. Laughlin and my classmates. I was totally surprised by the architecture of the housing and the rich collection of Native American cultures. I expected to see traditional suburbs but instead I found almost everyone has built houses resembling traditional adobe homes which I had never seen. Houses, businesses, government buildings including museums are almost built in this style. The colors seem to blend in with the desert. One of the most exciting events I attended in New Mexico was the museum presentation of the Zuni tribe. Although we actually did not meet the Zuni tribe, we learned a lot about them because Dawn Kaufmann who is a guide at the Museum of

This is a narrative of one Mexican American woman’s experiences and her views on the importance of passing down the cultural beliefs of her ancestors. In the section of the country in which I live there is a large population within the community of Mexican American culture. Although I have frequent contact with people of Mexican American heritage either through employment or interaction out in the community, I have a limited understanding of their culture. For this reason, I chose to learn more about the population of people I have frequent contact with and as a professional work with as clients in the field of mental health counseling. The quest of finding someone knowledgeable to discuss the population, their cultural background and some of their necessities, as well as some past experiences, led me towards contacting a church. This took calling two different churches before the person at the second church informed me that I needed to speak with, Mrs. Socorro Garcia head of their Hispanic Ministries. Unfortunately, Mrs. Garcia was on vacation when I called, but I was able to speak with her over the phone the following week, setting up an interview in person at her office a couple days later. This was a relief because I was becoming concerned about locating someone for a personal interview.

Both of my parents, mainly my mom have told me that if anyone ask what I am, that I should identify myself as a Mexican-American. As I said in my intro paragraph, the term I would use to identify myself is Mexican-American. I use this term to identify myself, because my family comes from Mexico, therefore, I have Mexican blood, but I was raised in the U.S., so that is why I identify myself as a Mexican-American.

I find myself “in-between” the majority of the time. I am not fully Mexican, yet not fully American (“white”), which is why I

I would identify myself as White, although my ethnicity is Irish, English, German, and Native American. I was born and raised on the island of Hawaii, which has allowed me to be immersed in a culturally diverse mix of people and practices. This has given me the opportunity to appreciate and value others’ views, values, and beliefs. Other parts of my culture include that I am an only child and I was brought up in a middle-class family that was not religious.