Colombian Culture

Characters of the movie also help to display Mexican culture. Surprisingly, one of the characters that does this is Miguel’s street dog, Dante. The dog is a breed called the Xoloitzcuintli, which are believed to be spiritual protectors in Mexican culture. In Coco, Dante shows this through guiding Miguel through the Land of the Dead and making him meet Hector, who turns out to be the twelve year old protagonist’s great great grandfather. The valuable breed is also said to be able to travel between the Land of the Dead and the Land of the Living, which is exactly what Dante does in Coco by journeying with Miguel. Pixar also shows alebrijes; colorful animals in Mexican folk art; in Coco. The animals were created by Pedro Linares after he had a peculiar dream: he was sick at the time, and he dreamt about a peaceful landscape with odd creatures of all kinds, and after waking up, he was miraculously healed.

Based on Cisneros’ works of literature, gender roles in a Hispanic culture revolves around patriarchal rule. The repercussions of a patriarchal rule includes the limitations of female liberation and development. Cleofilas’ abusive situation exemplifies the limitations of her independence and development as she can not make her own decisions and has to solely depend on her husband. This situation is illustrated when Cleofilas explains that the towns are “built so that you have to depend on husbands... You can drive only if you’re rich enough to own and drive an own car. There is no place to go” (Cisneros 628). Cleofilas reveals that men are the dominant gender and have more authority, and that women are compelled to depend on them in her society. It is an exceptionally rare case that a woman can afford her own car, for the men usually control the finances in a household. Additionally, Cleofilas has nowhere to seek refuge from her husband. Although she yearns to return to her father’s home, she decides not to due to the social standards imposed on her. In her society, the act of returning home after marriage is socially unacceptable. She understands that her family will be viewed in a negative light if she were to return home, as seen when Cleofilas refers to her town as a “town of gossips” (627). Similar to other men in the society, Juan Pedro’s authority is shown through his abuse. Cleofilas recalls, “He slapped her once, and then again, and again; until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood” (626).

In Latin American countries, they have a very unique culture. With their holidays, music, celebrations, and art, the countries in Latin America never cease to bring joy in people’s lives. Latin American culture is vastly different than other cultures in many ways. In Latin America, the languages of Spanish and Portuguese are dominant and most people speak them. However there are people who speak other languages as well. Latin America includes nineteen countries and several territories. There are a variety of different ethnicities in Latin America including Mexicans, Europeans, and Asians. Education inside the Latin American culture still struggles. Only a little more than half of kids ages 13-17 advance into secondary school. Because of this, the crime and violence rates in Latin America are at an all time high. These countries have been rated as one of the most dangerous regions in the world because of how high the rates of crime and violence are.

The Colombian culture is formed from the inheritance of the indigenous peoples present in the territory since ancient times, the Spanish traditions adopted during the colonial period and the African Customs incorporated by the slaves that led the conquistadors. This mixture of cultures constitutes a society with traits common to the rest of Latin American countries but, at the same time, very different also. Indeed, even within Colombia's own territory there are many differences between regions and others. Geographic diversity-can be found from tropical beaches to mountains of more than 5,000 meters in height with perpetual snows-and the natural isolation of some areas has led to this diversity. Some of the most important cultural groups according to their location are the so-called cops, located in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense; the countries, settled in Antioquia; The foresters, Settlers of the eastern plains; the Vallunos, settled in the area of Valle del Cauca; the coastal, inhabitants of the Caribbean coast, and the Santander, residents of the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander. All these groups are characterized by showing great cultural differences among themselves, which makes Colombia a fascinating country to know and enter into the day to day of its inhabitants.

When thinking about Hispanic parties, most people think of piñatas, traditional hollow papier-mâché creations filled with candy. Each child at the party is blindfolded and given a stick to try and break the piñata, spilling the candy onto the ground for all the children to collect (Explore Hispanic Culture, 2012). However, researchers believe this tradition extends back to Mayan times, where clay pots filled with gifts were broken open and considered to be favors from the gods (EHC, 2012).

Every culture has their own unique and distinguishing characteristics. One’s cultural identity defines who they are as an individual, group, and community. Their cultural identity may be reflected in numerous ways such as: language, communication styles, religion, beliefs, values, clothing, or other types of aesthetic markers. Cultural identity is formed by many of these traits but is not limited to these specifically. This essay will provide detailed information on Mexican Americans, and their ancestry and heritage. I will also explain about this cultures central beliefs and values, while incorporating information on Mexican Americans, cultural patterns, cultural identity, and their cultures communication characteristics and styles.

I believe that many different types of Mexican cuisine are an important parts of my culture since it enabled me to shape my own personal cultural identity and shared some core values, along with life lessons. First, tacos taught me how to have excellence in my work and to be careful for whenever I do things in a rush. For example, when my family and I would create tacos with perfection and when I made tacos in a rush that I forgot to season the meat. Second, pozole taught me to collaborate with others and to not give up. Such as, when my family would try and create the best pozole ever, and when I accidentally made the pozole to salty. Third, Mexican tamales taught me to be grateful and to view the world as diverse. Since my grandma when my grandma would always buy tamales before we eat them we would pray for the grateful things that have come our way, and to have a responsibility to myself whenever I would make tamales.

Since 1970, United States of America has seen a considerable amount of immigration because of economic chaos and civil wars in Latin American countries. The fight between the government of El Salvador and leftist guerrillas in 1980 brought about 500,000 immigrants to United States. They settled primarily in California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. The civil war in Nicaragua in the year 1980 drove an estimated 800,000 Nicaraguan immigrants to the United States

Essentially, every culture has a specific basis, native language, religion and custom that reflects its history, values and beliefs. These conceptual constructs represents the total reality of life within the community of which is commonly known as “Culture”. Culture is not only a race, but is a way of life. In the United States, there are many different races that integrate with the American race and culture. However, these individuals often times may have difficulties adjusting, adapting or maintaining their heritage. How well they acculturate and adapt to the process can have an impact on how well the individual is able to integrate or engage to one or another culture.

As a woman, Angela Vicario is the epitome of a traditional Colombian woman. A traditional Colombian woman is expected to be virgins when they get married; but Vicario defys this social custom causing Vicario to get “softly pushed his wife into [her house] without speaking,” (46). These details emphasize the idea that women are given different standards than men. The details help highlight Marquez’s criticism of how the traditional Colombian woman is treated as and thought of as. From a very young age Vicario and her sisters were taught “how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements,” (31). These skills were taught to better prepare the girls for marriage; displaying the difference in gender roles. Marquez uses parallel structure to emphasize the amount of skills one has to learn before they can be considered as good and pure. Many years after Bayardo San Román returns Vicario she still does “machine embroidery with her friends just as before she had made cloth tulips and paper birds, but when her mother went to bed she would stay in her room until dawn writing letters with no future,” (93). The diction of the words “no future” and “still” suggest that Vicario’s life is stuck in

Since than Chicanas have been accused for being traders and have been oppress by society. The author analyzed the roles Chicanas play in Mexican families and how they follow patriarchy views. For example, the mother in the story is describes as unworthy, week and insignificant within the family. However, Mama Luna as well as the young Chicana are being projected otherwise independent, smart, strong, and confident. Viramontes in her story she represents them as warrior Chicanas fighting against the conquistadores that killed many and took away our history.

Colombian culture is a culture rich in traditions and beliefs that are a combination of the indigenous Indians native to Colombia, the Spanish who colonized Colombia in the 1400’s, as well as the influence of the land itself. It is a country rich in biodiversity with around 1,550 species of birds and more than 13,000 species of plants within a mostly temperate landscape covering around 440,000 square miles. Currently it boasts a population of about 42.3 million people(worldometers.info) of many mixed races, including numerous distinct subcultures. Around 75% of the population is mixed race with fifty-five percent being Mestizos (Intermarriage between whites and natives), sixteen percent being Mulattoes (Intermarriage between blacks and whites), and four percent Zambo (Intermarriage between blacks and Indians) The remaining twenty percent of the population consists of European, African, or Indian ancestry. Due to the Spanish invasion that began in 1499, there has been an enormous Spanish influence weaved into the Colombian culture (everyculture.com).

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Marquez employs the motif of flowers within the novel to illustrate the role of women within a Latin American society; the cultural and symbolic implications of this associate flowers with purity, victimization, gender barriers, and deceit. In doing so, Marquez creates a microcosm of Latin America, exposing the core of Columbian culture and society with all its aspects such as ethnicity, and social norms and conventions that led to a series of insecurities and poverty in the community, and its affect on the role of women. The cultural context of this novel must first be considered before examining the symbolic importance of flowers.

The traditions in Chronicle of a Death Foretold are revealed to be very important in this Latin American society. From arranged marriages, to greeting the bishop, we see tradition affecting the lives of many of the people in the river village. However we can also see this through the roles of women in this society. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario’s mother, has raised her four fine daughters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until later in their lives, and only seldom socialize beyond the confinements of their home. The women spend their

Gabriel Garcia Marques provides a unique platform in his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (COADF) to analyze facets of traditional Colombian values. The characters provide context regarding particular sectors of religion, cultural values and social norms throughout the novel. Marquez highlights a multitude of cultural juxtapositions throughout all of his novels, however, COADF in particular comments on the social hypocrisy of religion and the double standards due to gender norms throughout the novel. In the novella, Angela Vicario’s character highlights misguided principles and helps to understand how women and other groups of people in the country are maltreated. Common themes throughout the novel often victimize Angela Vicario, such as sexual identity, alcohol abuse and religious scrutiny. Marquez conveys these themes through imagery, symbolism, allegory and most especially periphrasis. This paper will effectively highlight how these factors demonstrate the cultural discrepancy in allowance of freedoms and the roles of women in the novel, and broader country.