The Brazilian Culture

The culture of Brazil is a wonderful amalgamation of diverse traits of religion, ethnicity, heritages, and festivals. This melting pot of multiple cultures started brewing thousands of years ago when the first Portuguese sailors set foot on its shore, and interacted with the Native American Indians. Today Portuguese is the official language of the state, but many indigenous dialects are still in vogue.

Brazil's Major influences

Brazil was a colony of Portugal for more than three centuries; hence it is but natural that the influence of the Portuguese is evident in every walk on culture in Brazil. The interactions between the native Indians and the immigrants were very strong and it is difficult to draw the line between indigenous culture and the immigrant culture anymore. Unlike their Spanish counterparts, the Portuguese people concentrated more on the development of the land than territorial expansion. Hence it is needless to say that the culture in Brazil took shape, primarily in this period of colonization.

Some amount of cultural genocide of the native Indians occurred. Many got exterminated, few retreated to the depths of the jungles, and others intermingled with the settlers. To this day the culture of Brazil reflects the intermingling influences of the Native Americans and the Portuguese. To add to the melting pot, African slaves were brought to the country by the colonizers and they too got merged into the existing population. Apart from this, many immigrants from all over Europe also settled in Brazil and contributed their bit to the culture in Brazil.

The religion in Brazil

Religion has a lot of influence on the culture of the people and the culture of Brazil draws adequate inspirations from the religion. Catholicism is the primary religious faith of the country. It mainly migrated here with the Portuguese. But Catholicism too has not been spared the influences of the diversity which seems to be the signature of the culture of Brazil. Hence, evolved a religion which was far more expansive in its scope, than its counterparts, which were seen in other parts of the world. The social structure

Respect for tradition, strong family ties, reverence for ones ancestors, are hallmarks of the culture of Brazil. It is but expected of an economy based on agriculture to rely heavily on the family structure. Even though Brazil is like any other modernized country of this century, the influences of its traditions are still rampant in the culture of Brazil. The food and festivals

The cuisine of the country is as multi ethnic as its culture. Native Indian, Portuguese, African, European influences, all find their way into the cuisine of Brazil. Wine is a major culture and occupation here. Brazilian wine is one of the newest admissions into the elite club of wines and vineyards, of the world.

Brazilian Music

The culture in Brazil is largely influenced by music. Popular schools of music include samba, bossa nova and pagode amongst many others. One of the most celebrated composers of Brazil was José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830), Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896), and Elias Álvares Lobo (1834-1901). These were the stalwarts of classical music in the culture of Brazil. Since 1985, Brazilian music has seen a new democratic and vibrant face with the indoctrination of hip hop. Literature of Brazil

The literature in Brazil dates back to the 16th century. The first literary chronicles were maintained by the explorers like Pêro Vaz de Caminha, and the famous explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral. A note worthy writer of Brazilian literature is António Vieira, who was a Portuguese Jesuit priest. He went on to become one of the most celebrated writers in the history of Brazil. His style of Baroque literature in Portuguese language is classical in its magnitude. Writers like Gonçalves Dias and José de Alencar were celebrated writers who sympathized with the cause and culture of the native peoples.

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