Venezuela’s Culture Essay Example for Free

Venezuelas destination EssayThe finishing of Venezuela is primarily a mixture of Spaniard, Afri patronage and Indian traditions which was common known as criollo (Creole) (Palmerlee, 825). Their culture withal has a strong influence coming from the United States appearing in the place of the twentieth century. But the influences coming from the original Indian inhabitants were neglected beca manipulation of the long Spanish colonization. The principal Venezuelan folk type is the llanero, or plainsman, which is similar to the gaucho of Argentina, the cowboy of the United States, and the vaquero of Mexico. The llaneros folklore, songs, dances and legends are popularized throughout the country. Venezuelas field of study song and dance is the joropo, a gay and syncopated invention of the llaneros, danced with a lively, jig-like cause (Kohnstamm, 230). It employs such native instruments as the maraca, a rattle made of dried gourd shells a junior-grade harp and the cuatro, a sm all, four-string guitar. The tono llanero, or melody of the plains, is a folk dance which embodies Venezuelan popular impression at its purest.Other popular dances include the pasillo, similar to the pasillo of Columbia the merenque, which came from Santo Domingo and the corrido, from Mexico. The tanquito, a Venezuelan version of the Argentinian tango, is alike very popular in the country. As of this date, Venezuela has no traditional congratulate mainly because of the several(p cherryicate) cultures they inherited from the numerous races they had in the country. But some of them use the dresses that the indigenous people (like the tribes who lives in the amazon areas) used along time ago. A good showcase of this is the Liqui-liqui this is unremarkably worn by Venezuelan men.A traditional Liqui liqui is made up of white linen cloth, it has a full length trousers and a long sleeve jacket with a rounded Nehru-style collar, which is fastened and decorated by a junta, it also ha s around 5-6 buttons. It can also withdraw a pocket. This dress is traditionally worn with an alpargata (it is an open-toed kind of sandal) and can be accessorized with a llanero hat. According to some stories, Liqui liqui was also worn by the rich and famous of Venezuela. A good example of this is the mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao, Leopoldo Lopez which he wore Liqui-liqui in wedding celebration decease March 2007.This can also be worn by the women but instead of pants they use a biddy. A joropo dress is also used by the women of Venezuela it has a very colourful skirt that they used to wave back to their partners during the dance ball. The Roman Catholicism is the predominant faith in the country. It is estimated that 95 percent of their present population adheres to the Roman Catholic faith (Dydynski, 376). However, religious freedom is guaranteed to all faiths, and no mention of the Roman Catholic Church is made in the constitution.In 1980s the Protestants catches th e attentions of a a couple of(prenominal) Venezuelan but the Evangelist and Adventist has more followers than the Protestant. There were also few Mormons and Jewish. But well-nigh of the indigenous religion practices were vanished because they were introduce and converted to Catholicism. Although there were some of it survived and still active in their culture society, one good example of this is the culto of Maria Lonza. According to their stories and legends, Maria is a witch or healer which was born with an Indian father and a Spanish mother.She symbolizes the other two figures, black henchman, el lightlessness Felipe, and of an Indian cacique (chief), Guaicapuro which makes them the Tres Poderes or the Three Powers. Though the country is composed of different races and ethic groups, legal age of Venezuelans practices the Catholicism, which they owed from their Spanish colonial inheritance. They held mass everyday but has an obligatory worship day which is every Sunday, it w as verbalize that in this ritual they believe that the simple bread and wine will be turning into the form and blood of Jesus Christ.They believed in the sacrament of baptism and confirmation, most of the Venezuelan children carries a name of a ideal and celebrates their saints day and their own birthdates separately. They practice a straight nine days solicitation for their beloved who had just passed away this was usually attended by the immediate family members and close friends of the deceased person. both December 25th they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ which was commonly known as Christmas. They also commemorate Ash Wednesday were in they put ashes in form of a crucifix in their frontal bone in preparation for the Holy Week.One of their famous rituals is the Devil Dance (Baynham, 378). They celebrate this annually during the principal Christi. They do this by saltation in a drumbeat along the streets of Venezuela with a bloody red costume and a devilish mask. In t his said rituals the devil or the evil olfactory perception fights back against the good spirit and he also visit the graves of their ancestors, but of course the good spirit will won the battle after an exhausting antagonism on the part of Satans henchmen for the whole day.It usually run 35 miles of dancing before it will end up at the foot doors of the church building to hear mass. According to the people of Venezuela this rituals attracted many tourists all over the world and sometimes they would participate during the dance. In 1999, the Constitution of Venezuela declared that the Spanish and other 25 surviving indigenous languages belonging to three lingual families Caribans, Arawak, and Chibcha as the official languages of Venezuela. Wagyuu, Piaroa, Panare and Nhengtu are some of the 25 surviving indigenous languages.They also consider side of meat as their second language since this is now widely used in their culture promotions and business negotiations peculiarly in the ir Oil and Petroleum Industry. Arabic, Chinese, Italian, and Portuguese are also commonly spoken foreign languages in Venezuela. Summary Venezuela is composed of different races and ethnic groups this is very evident in their culture. Joropo is their national song and dance, concord to historians they got this from the llaneros or the plainsman (the cowboy version of Venezuelans).Other popular dances include the pasillo, similar to the pasillo of Columbia the merenque, which came from Santo Domingo and the corrido, from Mexico. The tanquito, a Venezuelan version of the Argentine tango, is also very popular in the country. As of this date Venezuela has no national costume, instead they use the different dresses coming from the indigenous people in Venezuela. A good example of this is the Liqui liqui, this is fondly worn by the Venezuelan men with alpargata (an open-toed kind of sandal).Most of the women wear a joropo dress but others also wears the liqui liqui but instead of the pan ts they traded it with a layered skirt. Taking from their Spaniard colonial heritage Roman Catholic dominates the population of Venezuela although there were no restrictions from their constitution with regards in choosing their religion. One of the popular rituals they have in Venezuela is the Devil Dance, where in the evil spirit fights over the good spirit. It is a 35 miles of dancing and ending the day with a mass this is celebrated during the Corpus Christi. Most of their traditions and rituals are coming from the Catholic doctrines.In their 1999 constitution it was clearly stated that Spanish is their national language together with the other 25 surviving indigenous languages. They also consider English as their second language. They use this language to say with their investors and tourist visitors.Works CitedBaynham, Angela. Insight Guides Venezuela. 4th Upd Sub Edition. Insight Guides, 2003 Dydynski, Krzysztof. lonesome Planet Venezuela. 4th edition. Lonely Planet Publica tions, 2004 Kohnstamm, Thomas. Venezuela. 5th edition. Lonely Planet, 2007 Palmerlee, Danny. South America. 10th Edition. Lonely Planet, 2007