three aspects of brazilian culture
Arts
The creation of Brazilian art begins with the earliest recordings of its human habitation. The first inhabitants of the land, Pre-Colombian Indians, created a diverse form of art. Brazil was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and received its name of today Brazil. Brazilian art is most commonly understood as the art produced in post Portuguese colonization. Below is the three artistic traditions throughout the centuries up until the 19th century.
Pre-Colombian Art
The oldest known art in Brazil resides with the Pre-Colombian Indians where they first started expression their traditions through cave painting which date back to 13,000 BC. Some of the patterns can be geometrically related and also with animal forms. More sophisticated versions of art were with Marajoara potteey, which was around 800-1400 AD. These were decorated with painting and complex human and animal combinations. Statues were also fabricated and were called muiraquitas. Two popular Pre-Colombian cultures were the Mina and Periperi cultures. Still to this day, the ancient Indian traditions of painting, pottery, and statues are still being procured by remaining Indian tribes.
Baroque Art
Baroque art was the dominant style of art in Brazil from after Pre-Colombian art until the early 19th century. Baroque style art was inspired from Roman Catholics who came from Portugal to civilize the Indian people, they were the first Western people active in Brazil. The Roman Catholics had an enormous effect on teaching religion through art in the form of plays, music, paintings, and statues. Some very important artist were Jose de Anchieta (first playwright), Agostinho de Jesus and Agostinho da Piedade (first sculptors), Belchior Paulo, Joao Felipe Bettendorff, Ricardo do Pilar (first paintings), and Francisco de Vaccas and Pedro da Fonseca (first music productions). Baroque art was mainly popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in Brazil and had wonders created with richness and craftsmanship.
19th Century: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism
With the 19th century came yet a new form of art: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism. There was one individual event in the 19th century that created the renewal of art, and that was the French Artistic Mission in 1816. This mission heavily sparked the Neoclassical style. The leader of this program was Joachim Lebreton and he created a proposal to start an Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy was the most important place for the visual arts through most of the 19th century. This imposed artistic education in painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts. The academy was famous for its output of Romantic painters. Some artists such as Victor Meirelles and Pedro Americo produced great works that became symbols of Brazils identity. Art changed significantly. For the music side, two individuals sparked the entire revolution: Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia who was a musical director to the court and then Carlos Gomes who was a Romantic artist who was the first musician to win international status. The late 19th centure brought about Realism. Where nature was sought after in art. Some very famous artists of this time were Joao Simoes Lopes Neto, Aluisio Azevedo, Euclides da Cunha, and Machado de Assis.
Cuisine
Cuisine is one of the most important cultural factors anywhere in the world. A nation’s cuisine tells a lot of about its country. The food of Brazil varies widely by state and region because of the large amount of indigenous and immigrant peoples. Therefore, the cuisine is marked by the preservation of regional differences in Brazil. The countries national dish is considered to be Feijoada. But many popular foods such as vatapa, moqueta, polenta and acaraje can be found all of the nation. For drinking, Brazil’s national beverage is coffee and the countries native liquor, Cachaca. Cachaca is distilled from the sugar cane plant.
The average Brazilian mean consists of different beans, rice, meats, and salad. A staple in their meals is a flour called cassava flour. The staple foods of Brazil are fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese. These are served frequently for lunch all around the country. Brazil has an abundance of different snack foods like pastels (pastries), coxinha (chicken croquete), pao de queijo (cheese bread and cassava flour / tapioca), pamonha (corn and milk paste), esfirra (Lebanese pastry), kibbeh (from Arabic cuisine), empanada (pastry) and empada(small salt pies filled with shrimps or heart of palm).
Brazilians also have a sweet tooth with their wide variety of candies and chocolates. Some savory sweets include brigadeiros (chocolate fudge balls), cocada (coconut flavored sweets), beijinhos (coconut truffles and clove) and romeu e julieta (cheese with a guava jam known as goiabada). A common plant in Brazil is the peanut plant which is used to make pacoca, rapadura, and pe-de-moleque. To balance out their sweet tooth, they also have many fruits in Brazil. Many common ones include acai, cupuacu, mango, papaya, cocoa, cashew, guava, passion fruit, orange, pineapple, and hog plums. A lot of their fruits are extracted and turned into juices, candies, sweets like ice cream, and inside of chocolate.
Sports
Brazil has a vast sport culture because of its temperate conditions throughout the year. The country has a wide variety of sports, most popular being Football, or what we call soccer in the United States. Brazil has sports unique to its country and sports found all of the globe. Many sports are played with a thorough amount of people because of its popularity in the population.
Football
Football, or soccer as we call it in the United States, is Brazils most popularly played and widely spread sport. Most recently, Brazil hosted the 2014 Fifa World Cup which is the biggest soccer even in the world. Millions of people travel thousands of miles all around the globe just to watch their favorite team try to win the title of world champion in the tournament. Brazil has won the world cup 5 times. Many very famous athletes and world recognized teams originate from this country because of the influence of soccer in the culture. Some of the most popular top players would undoubtedly be Pele, Ronaldo, Adriano, Kaka, and Ronaldinho.
Martial Arts
Martial Arts is a very popular sport in Brazil which dates all the back to beginning generations. Brazil has mainly two types of martial arts in its culture: Capoeira and Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu. Capoeira is the most popular form of martial arts in the country. It shows very distinctive influence in form from African cultures. The distinctions are characterized by the nimble movements made that utilize agility, power, and skill. Capoeira is practiced in a variety of ways, mainly on ground. This martial art is unique because its acrobatic in nature and interestingly performed with music in the background. Next is Jiu-Jitzu which started about the 20th century. It is more forced on submission type moves, which is basically locking an opponent up and make them so they can’t move. Jiu-Jitzu is a form of martial arts practiced all over the world and the styles and forms vary by culture.
Footvolley
A sport that is native to Brazil is Footvolley, which is a combination of football and volleyball utilizing skills from both sports. Footvolley was invented in the 1960’s in Brazil. The game is carried about with a volleyball net but the catch is the players can only use their feet to get the ball to the other side where their opponents are without using their hands. The game is normally played on the beach and is very cool to watch. Many tourists can easily catch a Footvolley game just being on the beautiful beaches of Brazil.
Formula One Racing
Brazil has been very successful in its Forumla One racing team with a staggering 100+ claimed victories. This proves that Brazil likes to test the caliber of sportsmen coming into the racetrack. Some very famous moto racers include Ayrton Senna, Rubens Barrichello, Bruno Senna, Felipe Massa and Lucas Di Grassi. Brazil also widely competes in the American Championship Car Racing Tournament, Stock Car Brasil, Formula Truck, and South American Foruma Three faces. Another form of racing that is popular there is motorbike track racing. The competition associated with that field is MotoGP.
Other Sports of Brazil include:
· Tennis
· Basketball
· Volleyball
· Rugby
· Golf
· Skateboarding
· Judo
· Swimming
· Sailing
· Horseback riding
· Boxing
· Curling
· Roller hockey
· Cricket
· Surfing
· American football
The creation of Brazilian art begins with the earliest recordings of its human habitation. The first inhabitants of the land, Pre-Colombian Indians, created a diverse form of art. Brazil was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and received its name of today Brazil. Brazilian art is most commonly understood as the art produced in post Portuguese colonization. Below is the three artistic traditions throughout the centuries up until the 19th century.
Pre-Colombian Art
The oldest known art in Brazil resides with the Pre-Colombian Indians where they first started expression their traditions through cave painting which date back to 13,000 BC. Some of the patterns can be geometrically related and also with animal forms. More sophisticated versions of art were with Marajoara potteey, which was around 800-1400 AD. These were decorated with painting and complex human and animal combinations. Statues were also fabricated and were called muiraquitas. Two popular Pre-Colombian cultures were the Mina and Periperi cultures. Still to this day, the ancient Indian traditions of painting, pottery, and statues are still being procured by remaining Indian tribes.
Baroque Art
Baroque art was the dominant style of art in Brazil from after Pre-Colombian art until the early 19th century. Baroque style art was inspired from Roman Catholics who came from Portugal to civilize the Indian people, they were the first Western people active in Brazil. The Roman Catholics had an enormous effect on teaching religion through art in the form of plays, music, paintings, and statues. Some very important artist were Jose de Anchieta (first playwright), Agostinho de Jesus and Agostinho da Piedade (first sculptors), Belchior Paulo, Joao Felipe Bettendorff, Ricardo do Pilar (first paintings), and Francisco de Vaccas and Pedro da Fonseca (first music productions). Baroque art was mainly popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in Brazil and had wonders created with richness and craftsmanship.
19th Century: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism
With the 19th century came yet a new form of art: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism. There was one individual event in the 19th century that created the renewal of art, and that was the French Artistic Mission in 1816. This mission heavily sparked the Neoclassical style. The leader of this program was Joachim Lebreton and he created a proposal to start an Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy was the most important place for the visual arts through most of the 19th century. This imposed artistic education in painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts. The academy was famous for its output of Romantic painters. Some artists such as Victor Meirelles and Pedro Americo produced great works that became symbols of Brazils identity. Art changed significantly. For the music side, two individuals sparked the entire revolution: Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia who was a musical director to the court and then Carlos Gomes who was a Romantic artist who was the first musician to win international status. The late 19th centure brought about Realism. Where nature was sought after in art. Some very famous artists of this time were Joao Simoes Lopes Neto, Aluisio Azevedo, Euclides da Cunha, and Machado de Assis.
Cuisine
Cuisine is one of the most important cultural factors anywhere in the world. A nation’s cuisine tells a lot of about its country. The food of Brazil varies widely by state and region because of the large amount of indigenous and immigrant peoples. Therefore, the cuisine is marked by the preservation of regional differences in Brazil. The countries national dish is considered to be Feijoada. But many popular foods such as vatapa, moqueta, polenta and acaraje can be found all of the nation. For drinking, Brazil’s national beverage is coffee and the countries native liquor, Cachaca. Cachaca is distilled from the sugar cane plant.
The average Brazilian mean consists of different beans, rice, meats, and salad. A staple in their meals is a flour called cassava flour. The staple foods of Brazil are fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese. These are served frequently for lunch all around the country. Brazil has an abundance of different snack foods like pastels (pastries), coxinha (chicken croquete), pao de queijo (cheese bread and cassava flour / tapioca), pamonha (corn and milk paste), esfirra (Lebanese pastry), kibbeh (from Arabic cuisine), empanada (pastry) and empada(small salt pies filled with shrimps or heart of palm).
Brazilians also have a sweet tooth with their wide variety of candies and chocolates. Some savory sweets include brigadeiros (chocolate fudge balls), cocada (coconut flavored sweets), beijinhos (coconut truffles and clove) and romeu e julieta (cheese with a guava jam known as goiabada). A common plant in Brazil is the peanut plant which is used to make pacoca, rapadura, and pe-de-moleque. To balance out their sweet tooth, they also have many fruits in Brazil. Many common ones include acai, cupuacu, mango, papaya, cocoa, cashew, guava, passion fruit, orange, pineapple, and hog plums. A lot of their fruits are extracted and turned into juices, candies, sweets like ice cream, and inside of chocolate.
Sports
Brazil has a vast sport culture because of its temperate conditions throughout the year. The country has a wide variety of sports, most popular being Football, or what we call soccer in the United States. Brazil has sports unique to its country and sports found all of the globe. Many sports are played with a thorough amount of people because of its popularity in the population.
Football
Football, or soccer as we call it in the United States, is Brazils most popularly played and widely spread sport. Most recently, Brazil hosted the 2014 Fifa World Cup which is the biggest soccer even in the world. Millions of people travel thousands of miles all around the globe just to watch their favorite team try to win the title of world champion in the tournament. Brazil has won the world cup 5 times. Many very famous athletes and world recognized teams originate from this country because of the influence of soccer in the culture. Some of the most popular top players would undoubtedly be Pele, Ronaldo, Adriano, Kaka, and Ronaldinho.
Martial Arts
Martial Arts is a very popular sport in Brazil which dates all the back to beginning generations. Brazil has mainly two types of martial arts in its culture: Capoeira and Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu. Capoeira is the most popular form of martial arts in the country. It shows very distinctive influence in form from African cultures. The distinctions are characterized by the nimble movements made that utilize agility, power, and skill. Capoeira is practiced in a variety of ways, mainly on ground. This martial art is unique because its acrobatic in nature and interestingly performed with music in the background. Next is Jiu-Jitzu which started about the 20th century. It is more forced on submission type moves, which is basically locking an opponent up and make them so they can’t move. Jiu-Jitzu is a form of martial arts practiced all over the world and the styles and forms vary by culture.
Footvolley
A sport that is native to Brazil is Footvolley, which is a combination of football and volleyball utilizing skills from both sports. Footvolley was invented in the 1960’s in Brazil. The game is carried about with a volleyball net but the catch is the players can only use their feet to get the ball to the other side where their opponents are without using their hands. The game is normally played on the beach and is very cool to watch. Many tourists can easily catch a Footvolley game just being on the beautiful beaches of Brazil.
Formula One Racing
Brazil has been very successful in its Forumla One racing team with a staggering 100+ claimed victories. This proves that Brazil likes to test the caliber of sportsmen coming into the racetrack. Some very famous moto racers include Ayrton Senna, Rubens Barrichello, Bruno Senna, Felipe Massa and Lucas Di Grassi. Brazil also widely competes in the American Championship Car Racing Tournament, Stock Car Brasil, Formula Truck, and South American Foruma Three faces. Another form of racing that is popular there is motorbike track racing. The competition associated with that field is MotoGP.
Other Sports of Brazil include:
· Tennis
· Basketball
· Volleyball
· Rugby
· Golf
· Skateboarding
· Judo
· Swimming
· Sailing
· Horseback riding
· Boxing
· Curling
· Roller hockey
· Cricket
· Surfing
· American football