Culture of Brazil has a diverse characteristic in the world. It was influenced by the history where during the slavery period in Africa the people there were brought to brazil borders under the European union civilization. They were brought in the idea to be influenced with the local culture with their ancient customs and ideas. The European settlers then started bringing in new ideas, innovations and a culture belief within them and made people adopt the new culture and believes. These different ideas influenced the culture of Brazil which is complex and unique.
The culture plays an important role as different practices from different countries posed an impact here. The countries which influenced the Brazilian culture are Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Austrians, Syrian, Lebanese, Armenians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Greeks, Poles, Helvetians, Ukrainians and Russians. These many countries settled down in Brazil which played an important role for the influence of Brazilian culture which developed into a multicultural and multiethnic country. The diversity and cultural background influenced in showing many celebrations and festivals which is very famous around the world. Some of the festivals known and famous are Brazilian Carnival and Bumba Meu Boi. Such culture is very vibrant and colorful, which makes tourist around the world to visit the country. Over 1 million tourists visit in Brazil every year.
Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world, where all the population in this country are immigrants and were not touched indigenous tribe. Even currently, people roam in Brazilian jungles. In summary, the country is overall full of adventure.
See how to obtain a tourist Visa to Brazil?
Brazil was a colony of Portugal for more than three centuries. There were millions of Portuguese who came to settle down in Brazil and also brought their cultures to the country. The inhabitants of the country had enough contact with the colonist, then later some of them became extinct. The country has Americans influence such as food and language. The language was first a mixture of Portuguese and Old Tupi language. Next the Black Africans were brought to Brazil has slaves in the country where they also actively took part in the culture of Brazil. Though Portuguese forces them to follow Catholicism and speak the language Portuguese the Brazilian culture was also observed and influenced by the Africans. The most notable influences African culture were the inheritance of their music, cuisine, dance and language.
The immigrants from Italy, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary and the Middle East plays a significant role specially from Southern and Southern Brazil. The immigrant countries became cities like Joinville, Caxias do Sul, Blumeau and Curitiba, the communities gave important contribution for the culture of Brazil.
The national language of Brazil is Portuguese, where 99% of the population speaks this language. This builds up a strong means of communication and culture in Brazil. Apart from Portuguese there are few people who speak Amerindian who do not speak Portuguese. The Brazilian Portuguese has very sound particular conservative or archaic language than the colonized language spoken during the 19th century. The language maintains the features of the country’s culture. In some regional places in brazil people use the variations of Indigenous American and African origin words. The words are restricted to place names, fauna and flora.
Some of the few languages spoken in the country apart from the large speaking Portuguese population are; Amerindian languages, German, Italian, Ukrainians and Poles. There is also a Brazilian Sign Language known as LIBRA is an officially recognized language which is not signed by the Portuguese language but it is signed from the French language.
The main religion of the country its population follows is the Roman Catholics. About 2/3rd of the population are Roman Catholics. The religion was widely spread by the influence of Portuguese who arrived in the country at 1549 during the colonization with the objective of converting the native people. The ideology of bringing in Jesus to people’s life played a huge role in religious and cultural diversity of Brazilian people. It was recently found that there was an increase in Protestantism where the rate of 95% of Catholicism decrease to the rate of 64.6%.
| RELIGION IN BRAZIL | PERCENTAGE |
| Roman Catholics | 64.6% |
| Protestantism | 22.2% |
| No religion | 8.0% |
| Spiritism | 2.0% |
| Others | 3.2% |
The Brazilian Carnival is an annual festival held before 46 days of the lent season. This carnival is where most tourist from all over the world travel to come to enjoy the festival. The festival is believed to have the traditional roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia which is brought to Christianity. It became a farewell to bad things in a season of pious religious discipline for the Christ death and resurrection. It is one of the most famous events recognized in the world and has become the most recommended event in Brazilian culture. It is also cherished by expats all around the globe. The carnival lasts more than a week where the intensity of the festival is very high that it is celebrated from morning till night mainly in the cities situated in the coastal area.
The nation’s cuisine has a vital impact on the culture of Brazil. Food is a very important part for the diversity of a country. The national food of the country is feijoada, which contains black beans cooked with pork and other meats. It has been a national food from the imperial period where the feijoada which is a Portuguese stew which is the ancient Rome national dish.
Brazil has variety of candies such as including brigadeiros and beijnhos. There are also other famous snacks such as coxinhas, churrasco, sfiha, empanadas and pine nuts. Brigadeiro is a famous candy in Brazil specifically during the celebration of birthdays.
There are variety of foods in different places on Brazil. The northeast of the country is famous for moqueca, acaraje, caruru and quibebe. In southeast Brazil, minas cheese, pizza, tutu, polenta, macaroni, lasagna and gnocchi. The country is a leader for the best green coffee in the world. In 2018, 28% of the Brazil’s coffee was consumed all around the world. The country has been producing large amount of coffee form the period of Brazilian slavery due to which developed a powerful national coffee culture.
Brazilian arts, painting and sculptures are widely known for its cave paintings which has been existing from 13,000 BC. In Minas Gerais and Goias there has been evidence found on the geometric patterns and animal forms. This has a strong impact on the culture of Brazil. During 800 – 1400 AD the culture started developing in Marajo Island in the region of Santarem. There are many Jesuits worked under the influence of Baroque in the dominant style at the early 19th century. During the beginning of the 20th century the importance of modern arts came into consideration. Later on, modern arts were strictly concentrated under academic agenda and felt at the category of cultures in Brazil.
The architecture of Brazil was under the influence of Portuguese Manueline style where the style is adapted for the tropical climate. In the city Ouro Preto the state of Minas it has various well-preserved examples of artistic style Aleijadinho. Architecture was then influenced by schools from other countries like France and United States. Later on, the architectural style of Brazil came into fame globally and made its firm place into modern Culture of Brazil. There are various famous architects in the country who also receives global awards. Some of the famous Brazilian architectures are Oscar Niemeyer, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Roberto Burle Marx and other notable architectures.
CINEMA
In Brazil cinema has been a very long tradition, it has been there from the 19th century. In the recent years Brazil has been producing films which are nationally acclaimed and recognized.
The following are the recommended films ranked internationally;
THEATRE
Theatre was introduced in Brazil at Jesuits during the colonization. Since then it has been maintained and considered under the mainstream culture of Brazil. It was during the 18th century the theatre first introduced the genre comedy for over the decades and later theatre was combined with Modern Arts.
Music and dance:
Music and Dance is the soul of Brazilian culture there are various types of Brazilian genres in which samba is the most famous type of music which developed with the combination of European and African music.
The genres of Brazilian music are as follows;
Dances of Brazil;
Football is the most popular sports in Brazil. Native people and Brazilian culture have its deepest condolence and respect in this particular sport. It is as well considered as nation’s cultural activity. Brazil has on of the largest football stadium in the world. The name of the stadium is Maracana Stadium. Brazilian Championship, highest division of Brazilian football are conducted here. The Brazil football team is one of the best team in the world. The team has a number of famous and recognized players in the world some of them are Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldodinho and Neymar. In FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian Team has won over 5 games which is a record and the maximum number of games won by a single team. Years won were 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. Some of the other sports which also have larger audience apart from Football are; Basketball, Volleyball, Auto racing, Martial arts, Tennis, Handball, Swimming, Gymnastics and Futsal (indoor football).
Questionnaire:
How did Brazilian culture come into existence?
The Brazilian culture was formed by Portuguese along with the combination of other countries like German, Italian, Japanese, African, etc.
What is the national language of Brazil?
Portuguese and also few French speaking native people
Is Rio de Janerio carnival from Brazil?
Yes, it is the world’s most famous carnival festival in Brazil celebrated before 46 days of lent season
What is the famous music in Brazil?
Among various type of music in Brazil, Samba is the most famous music played and used for celebration
Is football the only recognized sports in Brazil?
No, the country has wider audience for various other sports such as Basketball, Tennis, Volleyball, Swimming, etc.
Read Also: All you need to know about Brazil visa application
