Culture of Bolivia
|
|
Bolivia is a Latin country in South America located at the Andes mountains. It has a significant Native American population which mixed Spanish cultural elements with their ancestors' traditions. The Spanish-speaking population mainly follows the Western customs.
| Contents |
Clothing
The clothes certainly catch the attention of the visitor.
Women wear traditional bright colorful clothes with hats, full skirts (polleras) and shawls. They carry the babies on the back, having both hands free.
Festivals
Pagan rites from the pre-Columbian era are still common during the religious festivals of the Indians.
The clothing used during the festivals reminds the visitor of the pre-Columbian Indians and the 16th century Spaniards.
Dances
Many dances and songs contain elements from both the native and the Mediterranean culture.
The dance of palla-palla or loco palla-palla, practiced by the Indians, symbolise the European invaders.
The dance of Waka-tokoris of the Native Americans is a symbolic satire of the bullfights.
Music
Music is played during the festivals and the dances. Some tunes contain strong Spanish influences.
The most common musical instruments are:
- sicu or zampoña
- quena
- tarka
- pinkillo
- skin drums
- bronze gongs
- copper bells
- charango: Has five pairs of strings and looks like a small guitar. Traditionally it was made from the shells of armadillos, but today it is mostly made of wood.
Writers
- Nataniel Aguirre
- Oscar Alfaro
- Alcides Arguedas
- Alcira Cardona
- Oscar Cerruto
- Adolfo Costa Du Rels
- Antonio Díaz Villamil
- Ricardo Jaimes Freire
- Jesús Lara
- Asunta Limpias de Parada
- Carlos Medinaceli
- Jaime Mendoza
- Gabriel René Moreno
- María Josefa Mujia
- Fausto Reinaga
- Gustavo Navarro
- Gustavo Adolfo Otero
- Natalia Palacios
- Jaime Saenz
- Pedro Shimose
- Gastón Suárez
- Franz Tamayo
- Juan Wallparrimachi
- Adela Zamudio
Source: [1] (http://enciclopedia.us.es/wiki.phtml?title=La+literatura+de+Bolivia)
Books
- Culture Shock! Bolivia, ISBN 1558686401
External links
- Culture of Bolivia (worldrover.com) (http://www.worldrover.com/culture/Bolivia.html)
- Culture of Bolivia (languagecrossing.com) (http://www.languagecrossing.com/bolivia/about/culture.html)
- Languages spoken in Bolivia (http://198.62.75.1/www3/ethno/Boli.html)
- Culture of the Andes (http://www.andes.org/)pt:Cultura da Bolívia