Fernanda

Fernanda Huerta Ramos

Final project: Culture in production

Traditions and customs

All the world have different traditions and customs but I think that maybe it depends of the family because for example, when a Mexican family leave of your native country (Mexico) and go to live in another country they have the same traditions and customs of Mexico and maybe they do things news like the traditions and customs of your new country but their news traditions and customs are a kind of a mix of both cultures. For these reason the close countries have similar traditions and customs like Mexico and Unites States of America.

I will write about the culture of families of Mexico, in Mexico all the families traditions have a lot of history for example the culture in Mexico is very rich, it mixes elements from various periods, from aspects of prehispanic and colonial period to modern. The natural wealth of the country, its plurality and values, therefore, provide their own characteristics to "the Mexican". In most people respected the customs of their ancestors, but more than 85% of the Mexican population lives in large cities, like Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, and have adapted to the changes brought by modernity, most of these changes are adaptations of north American culture.

If we talk about Mexican culture I think is important to mention that a key feature of Mexican culture is its cuisine, which was recognized as World Heritage Site by UNESCO on November 16, 2010 and most of the people of other cultures loves Mexican food. Mexican gastronomy joined pre-Hispanic ingredients, such as corn, chili, cocoa, avocado and cactus, with others who were colonial influence, such as meat, rice and wheat, and that's why our food is well accepted by other cultures. Beverages, such as pulque, tequila or mezcal, are also characteristics and also have made us famous.

In my stay in the United States I noticed that most Mexican-Americans stereotype national Mexicans as being more happy and festive, so it is very important to mention this subject, the most characteristic national celebrations are the religious; some retain certain ancient traditions that can even be considered prehistoric. One of the most important is the December 12, Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who according to belief appeared to Juan Diego in 1531, in the Hill of Tepeyac, now his image is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe, in northern Mexico City.

Another festival is the Day of the Dead, which takes place on November 2; this course is a mixture of two traditions of pre-Hispanic and Catholic celebrations of "Dia de los fieles difuntos". The most popular holiday, like in other countries, is the celebration of Mexican Independence, which is held every September 15 in public places in all regions of the country, there is dance with band music and a lot of fireworks like the United States of America. Christmas, with its inns, carols, births are huge models, poinsettia flowers and break the piñata, it is also one of the most famous traditions in Mexico.

The most important of these traditions is that most Mexican family celebrates and makes the big meetings with lots of delicious food where everyone feels happy, most family members do things that you enjoy like dancing, eating, singing, drinking alcohol and sometimes people maybe more like grandparents to uncles tell stories of his youth and how these parties were celebrated. It is for these festivities that most Mexican families that are traditional mainly have a special junction and are not a dysfunctional family.

Now I'll talk a little about American culture, but I do not know much about it as well. It is one of the countries with the highest number of migrants so their traditions become more interesting. For example, according to the 2000 Census, 11% of people living in the U.S. were born abroad, and 18% of all households spoke a language other than English.

While most immigrants come from Mexico (almost 2 million or 25%), 11% are original Caribbean, nearly 7% are from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, 5.8% are from South America, and remaining 20% is divided between nations as different as the Philippines, Central America, India and Central Asia and Middle East.

Even USA has traditional festivals like maybe the most important is the New Year, which is on January 1. Other common festivals are Mother's Day, second Sunday in May, or Father's Day, the third Sunday in June. On December 25, Christmas is also celebrated as Mexico cause it is a religious festival.

The most important festival in the United States is the 4th of July, Independence Day, which is celebrated by each person with love for his or her country. The traditional Halloween holiday celebrated on the night of 31 October with the famous phrase "trick or treat", which is when children go from house to house asking for candy.

The last Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day that is the most similar to a Mexican holiday.

Now is time to talk about both cultures, here in the UNT I learn that the United States have many cultures but the people of this country keeps your own culture but maybe the Mexican people that lives in the USA keeps their Mexican culture and they take some traditions of the American cultures and in this way the does their own mix of cultures.

Maybe is necessary that I give some example of the mix of this both cultures, the Tex-Mex food, this word is a portmanteau of Texan and Mexican is a term describing a regional food that blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans influenced by Mexican food.

In this week I taste it and this food is a kind of adaptation for the American people to their American food maybe because the Mexican food is spicy and the stomach of the Americans is not available to a lot of spicy food, but for me it is so good because I feel pride because I think that the American people think that the Mexican food is so good that they want make their own version.

 Other famous example is the big number of fast food restaurants that there are in Mexico because it says that also the Mexican people loves the American food but we eat the same food without changes in this, but this kind of food causes a big problem because in this moment the newspaper of Mexico “El economista” says that Mexico is the country number one in obesity of the world.

In conclusion I can say that I really love the combination of both cultures because I this mix of cultures is my culture and although I love my country, your food and your culture, also I love some festivals of USA and maybe some food and traditions.