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The culture of Brazil has been shaped by the amalgamation of diverse indigenous cultures, and the cultural fusion that took place amongIndigenous communities,Portuguese colonists, andAfricans, primarily during the Brazilian colonial period. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil received a significant number of immigrants, primarily ofPortuguese,Italian,Spanish, andGerman origin, which along with smaller numbers ofJapanese,Austrians,Dutch,Armenians,Arabs,Jews,Poles,Ukrainians,French,Russians,Swiss,Hungarians,Greeks,Chinese, andKoreans gave a relevant contribution to the formation of regional culturesin Brazil, and thus contributed to its current existence as aplural and racially diverse society.[1]
As consequence of three centuries ofcolonization by thePortuguese empire, many aspects of Brazilian culture are derived from theculture of Portugal.[2] The numerous Portuguese inheritances include thelanguage, cuisine items such asrice and beans andfeijoada, the predominantreligion and thecolonial architectural styles.[3] These aspects, however, were influenced by African and Indigenous traditions, as well as those from other Western European countries.[4] Some aspects of Brazilian culture are contributions ofItalian,Spaniard,German,Japanese and otherEuropean immigrants.[5]Amerindian people andAfricans also played an important role in the formation of Brazilian language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.[5][6]
This diverse cultural background has helped show off many celebrations and festivals that have become known around the world, such as theBrazilian Carnival and theBumba Meu Boi. The colourful culture creates an environment that makes Brazil a popular destination for tourists, who visit over 1 million annually.[7]
Brazil was a colony ofPortugal for over three centuries. About a million Portuguese settlers arrived during this period[8] and brought their culture to the colony. The Indigenous inhabitants of Brazil had much contact with the colonists. Many became extinct, and others mixed with the Portuguese. For that reason, Brazil also holdsAmerindian influences in its culture, mainly in its food and language. Brazilian Portuguese has hundreds of words of Indigenous American origin, mainly from theOld Tupi language.[9]
Black Africans, who were brought asslaves to Brazil, also participated actively in the formation of Brazilian culture. Although the Portuguese colonists forced their slaves to convert toCatholicism and speak Portuguese, their cultural influences were absorbed by the inhabitants of Brazil of allraces and origins. Some regions of Brazil, especiallyBahia, have particularly notable African inheritances in music, cuisine, dance and language.[10]
Immigrants fromItaly,Germany,Spain,Japan,Ukraine,Russia,Poland,Austria-Hungary and theMiddle East played an important role in the areas they settled (mostlySouthern andSoutheastern Brazil). They organized communities that became important cities such asJoinville,Caxias do Sul,Blumenau,Curitiba and brought important contributions to the culture of Brazil.[11][12]
Modernism in Brazil started with theModern Art Week held in São Paulo in 1922 and was characterized by experimentation and interest in Brazilian society and culture, as well as rebellion against influence fromEurope and theUnited States and the orthodoxy of theBrazilian Academy of Letters.[13]Tarsila do Amaral andOswald de Andrade were among the catalysts of theantropofagia movement in Brazil, with works such asManifesto Pau-Brasil,Abaporu, andManifesto Antropófago.[13][14] In the 1930s, sociologists such asGilberto Freyre andSérgio Buarque de Holanda published ideas about Brazilian culture, society, and identity, presenting concepts such as "racial democracy" and the "cordial man".[15]
During themilitary dictatorship (1964–1985) and especially following theInstitutional Act Number Five in 1968, the governmentcensored material—including art, literature, music, theatre, film, etc.—that it deemed subversive or against "morality and good manners."[16]Tropicália orTropicalismo was a movement against this repression and authoritarianism, from both the government and theCatholic Church.[17] Part of thecounterculture of the 1960s, Tropicalismo was led by figures such asGilberto Gil andCaetano Veloso and manifested itself primarily in music.[18]
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese. It is spoken by about 99% of the population, making it one of the strongest elements of national identity.[19] There are only some Amerindian groups and small pockets of immigrants who do not speak Portuguese.
Similarly to American English and Canadian French,Brazilian Portuguese is more phonetically conservative or archaic than the language of the colonizing metropolis, maintaining several features that European Portuguese had before the 19th century.[20][21][22]
Also similarly to American English, the Brazilian regional variation, as well as theEuropean one, include a small number of words ofIndigenous American andAfrican origin, mainly restricted to place names and fauna and flora.[23]
Minority languages are spoken throughout the nation. One hundred and eightyAmerindian languages are spoken in remote areas and several other languages are spoken by immigrants and their descendants. There are significant communities ofGerman (mostly theHunsrückisch, aHigh German language dialect) andItalian (mostly theTalian dialect, ofVenetian origin) speakers in the south of the country, both of which are influenced by the Portuguese language.[24][25] Not to mention the Slavic communities, Ukrainians and Poles which are also part of these minority languages.
TheBrazilian Sign Language (not signed Portuguese – it likely is descended from theFrench Sign Language), known by the acronymLIBRAS, is officially recognized by law, albeit using it alone would convey a very limited degree of accessibility, throughout the country.
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About 2/3 of the population areRoman Catholics. Catholicism was introduced and spread largely by thePortuguese Jesuits, who arrived in 1549 during the colonization with the mission of converting the Indigenous people. The Society of Jesus played a large role in the formation of Brazilian religious identity until their expulsion from the country by theMarquis of Pombal in the 18th century.[28]
In recent decades Brazilian society has witnessed a rise inProtestantism. Between 1940 and 2010, the percentage of Roman Catholics fell from 95% to 64.6%, while the various Protestantdenominations rose from 2.6% to 22.2%.[29]
The African-Brazilian religion ofCandomblé, with itsorixá deities derived fromYoruba traditions, is particularly important inSalvador andBahia in general.[30]
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TheBrazilian Carnaval is an annualfestival held forty-six days beforeEaster. Carnival celebrations are believed to have roots in thepagan festival ofSaturnalia, which, adapted to Christianity, became a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection.
Carnival is the most famousholiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. For almost a week festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities.[32]
The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are:samba-enredo andmarchinha (inRio de Janeiro andSoutheast Region),frevo,maracatu andAxé music (inPernambuco,Bahia andNortheast Region)
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's history and mix of indigenous and immigrant cultures. This has created a national cooking style, marked by the preservation of regional differences.[33] Since the imperial period,[34] thefeijoada, a Portuguese stew with origins in Ancient Rome, has been the country's national dish.[35][36]Luís da Câmara Cascudo wrote that, having been revised and adapted in each region of the country, it is no longer just a dish, but has become a complete food.[37]
Brazil has a variety of candies includingbrigadeiros, made with condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder, and it can have sprinkles of chocolate around, andbeijinhos. Other snack foods includecoxinhas,churrasco,sfiha,empanadas, andaraucaria nuts (inFesta Junina).Pão de queijo are typical in the state ofMinas Gerais. Typical northern foods includepato no tucupi,tacacá,caruru,vatapá, andmaniçoba. The Northeast is known formoqueca (a stew ofseafood and palm oil),acarajé (a fritter made with whitebeans,onion and fried inpalm oil (dendê), which is filled with driedshrimp andred pepper),caruru, andQuibebe. In the Southeast, it is common to eatBife a cavalo,Bife à parmegiana,Virado,Minas cheese,pizza,tutu,macaroni,lasagna, andcodfish pastries. Churrasco is the typical meal ofRio Grande do Sul, and in the South region, it is common to eatpolenta,carreteiro rice,chimarrão,cuca,salami,sagu,wine andgrape juice.Cachaça is Brazil's nativeliquor, distilled fromsugar cane, and it is the main ingredient in the national drink, thecaipirinha. Brazil is the world leader in production of greencoffee (café).[38] In 2018,[39] 28% of the coffee consumed globally came from Brazil. Because of Brazil's fertile soil, the country has been a major producer of coffee since the times ofBrazilian slavery,[40] which created a strong national coffee culture.[41][42][43] This was satirized in thenovelty song "The Coffee Song", sung byFrank Sinatra and with lyrics byBob Hilliard, interpreted as an analysis of the coffee industry,[44][45][46] and of the Brazilian economy and culture.[47][48][49][50]
Literature in Brazil dates back to the 16th century, to the writings of the first Portuguese explorers in Brazil, such asPero Vaz de Caminha, filled with descriptions offauna,flora andIndigenous peoples that amazed Europeans that arrived in Brazil.[52] When Brazil became a colony of Portugal, there was the "Jesuit Literature", whose main name was the fatherAntónio Vieira, a PortugueseJesuit who became one of the most celebrated Baroque writers of the Portuguese language. A few more explicitly literary examples survive from this period:José Basílio da Gama's epic poem celebrating the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese, and the work ofGregório de Matos Guerra, who produced a sizable amount of satirical, religious, and secular poetry.Neoclassicism was widespread in Brazil during the mid-18th century, following theItalian style.
In the middle of the path there was a rock
There was a rock in the middle of the path
There was a rock
In the middle of the path, there was a rock
Brazil produced significant works inRomanticism – novelists likeJoaquim Manuel de Macedo andJosé de Alencar wrote novels about love and pain. Alencar, in his long career, also treated Indigenous people as heroes in the Indigenist novelsO Guarany,Iracema,Ubirajara.[53] The FrenchMal du siècle was also introduced in Brazil by the likes ofAlvares de Azevedo, whoseLira dos Vinte Anos andNoite na Taverna are national symbols of theUltra-romanticism.Gonçalves Dias, considered one of the national poets,[54] sang the Brazilian people and the Brazilian land on the famousSong of the Exile (1843), known to every Brazilian schoolchild.[54] Also dates from this period, although his work has hatched inRealism,Machado de Assis, whose works includeHelena,Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas,O alienista,Dom Casmurro, and who is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature.[55][56] Assis is also highly respected around the world.[57][58]
My land has palm trees, Where theThrush sings; The birds, that sing here, Do not sing as they do there.
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Monteiro Lobato, of the Pré-Modernism (an essentially Brazilian literary movement),[61] wrote mainly for children, often bringingGreek mythology anddidacticism withBrazilian folklore, as we see in his short stories aboutSaci Pererê.[62] Some authors of this time, likeLima Barreto andSimões Lopes Neto andOlavo Bilac, already show a distinctly modern character;Augusto dos Anjos, whose works combineSymbolistic,Parnasian and even pre-modernist elements has a "paralytic language".[63]Mário de Andrade andOswald de Andrade, fromModernism, combined nationalist tendencies with an interest in European modernism and created theModern Art Week of 1922.João Cabral de Melo Neto andCarlos Drummond de Andrade are placed among the greatest Brazilian poets;[64] the first, post-modernist, concerned with theaesthetics and created a concise and elliptical and lean poetic, against sentimentality;[65] Drummond, in turn, was a supporter of "anti-poetic" where the language was born with the poem.[66]
InPost-Modernism,João Guimarães Rosa wrote the novelGrande Sertão: Veredas, about theBrazilian outback,[68] with a highly original style and almost a grammar of his own,[69] whileClarice Lispector wrote with an introspective and psychological probing of her characters.[70]Vinicius de Moraes, nicknamed "O Poetinha", was notable as a poet, essayist, and lyricist often collaborating withTom Jobim.[71] Nowadays,Nelson Rodrigues,Rubem Fonseca andSérgio Sant'Anna, next toNélida Piñon andLygia Fagundes Telles, both members ofAcademia Brasileira de Letras, are important authors who write about contemporary issues sometimes with erotic or political tones.Ferreira Gullar andManoel de Barros are two highly admired poets and the former has also been nominated for theNobel Prize, while Fagundes Telles is the first Brazilian woman to be nominated for the Nobel.[72][73]
The oldest known examples of Brazilian art arecave paintings inSerra da Capivara National Park in the state ofPiauí, dating back to c. 13,000 BC.[74] InMinas Gerais andGoiás have been found more recent examples showing geometric patterns and animal forms.[75] One of the most sophisticated kinds ofPre-Columbian artefact found in Brazil is the sophisticatedMarajoara pottery (c. 800–1400 AD), from cultures flourishing onMarajó Island and around the region ofSantarém, and statuettes and cult objects, such as the small carved-stone amulets calledmuiraquitãs, also belong to these cultures.[76] Many of theJesuits worked in Brazil under the influence of theBaroque, the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century.[77][78] TheBaroque in Brazil flourished inBahia andPernambuco andMinas Gerais, generating valuable artists likeManuel da Costa Ataíde and especially the sculptor-architectAleijadinho.[78]
In 1816, theFrench Artistic Mission in Brazil created theImperial Academy of Fine Arts and imposed a new concept of artistic education and was the basis for a revolution in Brazilian painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts.[79] A few decades later, under the personal patronage of EmperorDom Pedro II, who was engaged in an ambitious national project of modernization, the Academy reached itsgolden age, fostering the emergence of the first generation of Romantic painters, whenceVictor Meirelles andPedro Américo, that, among others, produced lasting visual symbols of national identity. It must be said that inBrazil Romanticism painting took a peculiar shape, not showing the overwhelming dramaticism,fantasy,violence, or interest in death and the bizarre commonly seen in the European version, and because of its academic and palatial nature all excesses were eschewed.[80][81][82]
The beginning of the 20th century saw a struggle between old schools and modernist trends. Important modern artistsAnita Malfatti andTarsila do Amaral were both early pioneers in modern art in the country,[83] and are amongst the better-known figures of theAnthropophagic Movement, whose goal was to "swallow" modernity from Europe and the US and "digest" it into a genuinely Brazilian modernity. Both participated in TheWeek of Modern Art festival, held inSão Paulo in 1922, that renewed the artistic and cultural environment of the city[84] and also presented artists such asEmiliano Di Cavalcanti,Vicente do Rego Monteiro, andVictor Brecheret.[85] Based on Brazilian folklore, many artists have committed themselves to mixing it with the proposals of the EuropeanExpressionism,Cubism, andSurrealism. From Surrealism, arisesIsmael Nery, concerned with metaphysical subjects where their pictures appear on imaginary scenarios and averse to any recognizable reference.[86] In the next generation, the modernist ideas of the Week of Modern Art have affected a moderate modernism that could enjoy the freedom of the strict academic agenda, with more features of conventional method, best exemplified by the artistCandido Portinari, which was the official artist of the government in mid-century.[78]
In recent years, names such as Oscar Araripe,Beatriz Milhazes andRomero Britto have been well acclaimed.
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Brazilianarchitecture in the colonial period was heavily influenced by the PortugueseManueline style, albeit adapted for thetropical climate. AUNESCO World Heritage Site, the city ofOuro Preto in the state ofMinas Gerais contains numerous well-preserved examples of this style by artists such asAleijadinho.[87]
In later centuries, Brazilian architects were increasingly influenced by schools from other countries such asFrance and theUnited States, eventually developing a style of their own that has become known around the world. Architects such asOscar Niemeyer have received much acclaim, with the Brazilian capitalBrasília being the most notable example of modern Brazilian architecture.[88] Niemeyer received thePritzker Architecture Prize in 1988, and in 2006 the prize was awarded to Brazilian architectPaulo Mendes da Rocha.
In recent decades, Brazilianlandscape architecture has also attracted some attention, particularly in the person ofRoberto Burle Marx. Some of this notable works are theCopacabanapromenade inRio de Janeiro and theIbirapuera Park inSão Paulo.[89]
Chichico Alkmim was a pioneer of photography in rural Minas Gerais in the early 20th century.[90]Hildegard Rosenthal was a pioneering photojournalist in São Paulo whose photographs from the 1940s have been widely exhibited and published.Sebastião Salgado is ablack and white photographer, known forGenesis and the documentary about his life, The Salt of the Earth.[91]Vik Muniz photographs his art made of unconventional materials, such as peanut butter and jelly.[92]Cássio Vasconcellos,Miguel Rio Branco, andClaudia Andujar are associated photojournalism, associated with aerial photography, social criticism, and anthropology, respectively.
Cinema has a long tradition in Brazil, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century, and gaining a new level of international acclaim in recent years.[94]Limite, written and directed byMário Peixoto, was anavant-garde silent film first screened in 1931.[95]Cinema Novo, embodied by films such asVidas secas andDeus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol ("Black God, White Devil"), was a film genre and movement in the 1960s and 1970s that emphasized social equality and intellectualism.[96]
The documentary filmBus 174 (2002), byJosé Padilha, about a bus hijacking, is the highest-rated foreign film atRotten Tomatoes.[97]O Pagador de Promessas (1962), directed byAnselmo Duarte, won thePalme d'Or at the1962 Cannes Film Festival, the only Brazilian film to date to win the award.[98]
Fernando Meirelles'City of God (2002), is the highest rated Brazilian film on the IMDb Top 250 list and was selected byTime magazine as one of the 100 best films of all-time in 2005.[99] The highest-grossing film in Brazilian cinema, taking 12 million viewers to cinemas, isDona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976), directed byBruno Barreto and based onthe novel of the same name byJorge Amado.[100][101][102] Acclaimed Brazilian filmmakers includeGlauber Rocha, Fernando Meirelles, José Padilha, Anselmo Duarte,Eduardo Coutinho,Alberto Cavalcanti, andWalter Salles; the latest directedCentral Station (1998), starringFernanda Montenegro, whose performance earned her international critical acclaim and a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress (becoming the first Brazilian actress to ever be nominated in the lead actress category).[103]
Theater was introduced by the Jesuits during the colonization, particularly byFather Joseph of Anchieta, but did not attract much interest until thetransfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil in 1808. Over the 18th century, theatre evolved alongside the blossoming literature traditions with names such asMartins Pena andGonçalves Dias. Pena introduced thecomedy of manners, which would become a distinct mark of Brazilian theatre over the next decades.[104]
The theatre was not included in the 1922Modern Art Week of São Paulo, which marked the beginning of BrazilianModernism, but Oswald de Andrade's O Rei da Vela written in the 1930s would become the manifesto of theTropicalismo movement in the 1960s.
The 1956 premier ofOrfeu da Conceição byVinicius de Moraes, with compositions fromAntônio Carlos Jobim and a cast drawn fromAbdias do Nascimento's Teatro Experimental do Negro, was a landmark event in Brazilian culture. In the 1960s, many playwrights, such asGianfrancesco Guarnieri,Augusto Boal,Dias Gomes,Oduvaldo Vianna Filho and Plínio Marcos, used theatre as a means of opposing themilitary regime. With the end of the military regime and the end ofcensorship in the 1980s, theatre would again grow in themes and styles.
Contemporary names includeGerald Thomas, Ulysses Cruz, Aderbal Freire-Filho, Eduardo Tolentino de Araújo, Cacá Rosset, Gabriel Villela, Márcio Vianna,Moacyr Góes and Antônio Araújo.[105]
Music is one of the most instantly recognizable elements of Brazilian culture. Many different genres and styles have emerged in Brazil, such assamba,pagode,sertanejo,brega,bossa nova,MPB,frevo,forró,maracatu andaxé.
Samba is among the most popular music genres in Brazil and is widely regarded as the country's national musical style. It developed from the mixture of European and African music, brought by slaves in the colonial period and originated in the state ofBahia.[107] In the early 20th century, modern samba emerged and was popularized inRio de Janeiro behind composers such asNoel Rosa,Cartola andNelson Cavaquinho among others. The movement later spread and gained notoriety in other regions, particularly in Bahia andSão Paulo. Contemporary artists includeMartinho da Vila,Zeca Pagodinho andPaulinho da Viola.[108]
Samba makes use of a distinct set of instruments, among the most notable are thecuíca, afriction drum that creates a high-pitched squeaky sound, thecavaquinho, a small instrument of theguitar family, and the pandeiro, a handframe drum. Other instruments are thesurdos,agogôs,chocalhos andtamborins.[109]
Choro originated in the 19th century through interpretations of European genres such aspolka andschottische by Brazilian artists who had already been influenced by African rhythms such as thebatuque.[110] It is a largelyinstrumental genre that shares several characteristics with samba. Choro gained popularity around the start of the 20th century (1880-1920) and was the genre of many of the first Brazilianrecords in the first decades of the 20th century. Notable Choro musicians of that era includeChiquinha Gonzaga,Pixinguinha andJoaquim Callado. The popularity of choro steadily waned after the popularization of samba but saw a revival in recent decades and remains appreciated by a large number of Brazilians.[111] There are several acclaimed Choro artists nowadays such asAltamiro Carrilho,Yamandu Costa andPaulo Bellinati.
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music that originated in the late 1950s.[112] It has its roots on samba but features lesspercussion, employing instead a distinctive and percussive guitar pattern. Bossa nova gained mainstream popularity in Brazil in 1958 with the songChega de Saudade, written byAntônio Carlos Jobim andVinícius de Moraes. Together withJoão Gilberto, Jobim and Moraes would become the driving force of the genre, which gained worldwide popularity with the song "Garota de Ipanema" as interpreted by Gilberto, his wifeAstrud andStan Getz on the albumGetz/Gilberto.[113] The bossa nova genre remains popular in Brazil, particularly among the upper classes and in theSoutheast.
MPB (an acronym forMúsica popular brasileira, or Brazilian Popular Music) was a trend in Brazilian music that emerged after the bossa nova boom. It presents many variations and includes elements of styles that range from Samba toRock music.[114]
In the 1960s someBahia artists founded the short-lived but highly influentialTropicália orTropicalismo movement, which attracted international attention. Among those wereCaetano Veloso,Gilberto Gil,Gal Costa,Tom Zé,José Carlos Capinam, othersJorge Mautner,[115]Nara Leão, andOs Mutantes.[116] Although the movement was rooted in music, it also found expression in film withGlauber Rocha, theater, poetry, and politics.[115]
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Sertanejo is the most popular genre in Brazilian mainstream media since the 1990s. It evolved from música caipira over the 20th century,[117] a style of music that originated in Brazilian countryside and that made use of theviola caipira, although it presents nowadays a heavy influence fromAmericancountry music but resembles in many ways including writing style with Pimba Music of Portugal. Beginning in the 1980s, Brazil saw an intense massification of the sertanejo genre inmainstream media and an increased interest in the phonographic industry.[118] As a result, sertanejo is today the most popular music genre in Brazil in terms of radio play. Common instruments in contemporary sertanejo are theacoustic guitar, which often replaces the viola, theaccordion and theharmonica, as well aselectric guitar,bass anddrums.[119] Traditional acts includeChitãozinho & Xororó,Zezé Di Camargo & Luciano,Leonardo andDaniel. Newer artists such asMichel Teló,Luan Santana,Gusttavo Lima have also become very popular recently among younger audiences.
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Forró andFrevo are two music anddance forms originated in the Brazilian Northeast. Forró, like Choro, originated from European folk genres such as the schottische between the 19th and early 20th centuries. It remains a very popular music style, particularly in the Northeast region, and is danced inforrobodós (parties and balls) throughout the country.[120]
Frevo originated inRecife,Pernambuco during the Carnival, the period it is most often associated with. While the music presents elements ofprocession and martialmarches, the frevo dance (known as "passo") has been notably influenced bycapoeira.[121] Frevo parades are a key tradition of the Pernambuco Carnival.
Brazil has also a tradition of the classical music, since the 18th Century. The oldest composer with a fully documented work isJosé Maurício Nunes Garcia, a Catholic priest who wrote numerous pieces, both sacred and secular, with a style resembling the classical Viennese style from Mozart and Haydn. In the 19th century, the composerAntonio Carlos Gomes wrote several operas with Brazilian indigenous themes, withlibrettos inItalian, some of which premiered inMilan; two of the works are the operasIl Guarany andLo Schiavo (The Slave).
In the 20th century, Brazil had a strong modernist and nationalist movement, with the works of internationally renowned composers likeHeitor Villa-Lobos,Camargo Guarnieri,César Guerra-Peixe andCláudio Santoro, and more recentlyMarlos Nobre andOsvaldo Lacerda. Many famous performers are also from Brazil, such as the opera singerBidu Sayão, the pianistNelson Freire and the former pianist and now conductorJoão Carlos Martins.
The city ofSão Paulo hosts theSala São Paulo, home of theSão Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), one of the most outstanding concert halls in the world. Also the city ofCampos do Jordão hosts yearly in June the Classical Winter Festival, with performances of many instrumentists and singers from all over the world.
Many other genres have originated in Brazil, especially in recent years. Some of the most notable are:
Television has played a large role in the formation of the contemporary Brazilian popular culture. It was introduced in 1950 byAssis Chateaubriand and remains the country's most important element ofmass media.
Telenovelas are a marking feature in Brazilian television, usually being broadcast in prime time on most major television networks. Telenovelas are similar in concept tosoap operas in English-speaking countries but differ from them in duration, with telenovelas being significantly shorter (usually about 100 to 200 episodes). They are widely watched throughout the country, to the point that they have been described as a significant element in national identity and unity, and have been exported to over 120 countries.[126]
Brazilian folklore includes manystories,legends,dances,superstitions and religious rituals. Characters include theBoitatá, theBoto Cor-de-Rosa, theSaci and theBumba Meu Boi, which has spawned the famous June festival inNorthern andNortheastern Brazil.[127]Pisadeira,Headless Mule,White Lady, among others, are popular inSão Paulo and theSoutheast of the country.Saci Day is also commemorated in the country, mainly in São Paulo state.[128]
Social media in Brazil is the use of social networking applications in this South American nation. This is due to economic growth and the increasing availability of computers and smartphones. Brazil is the world's second-largest user ofTwitter (at 41.2 million tweeters), and the largest market forYouTube outside the United States.[129] In 2012, average time spent on Facebook increased 208% while global use declined by 2%.[129] In 2013, Brazil ranked the second highest number of Facebook users globally at 65 million.[129] During this period, social media users in Brazil spent an average 9.7 hours a month online.[129]
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil.[33] Many Brazilian players such asPelé,Ronaldo,Kaká,Ronaldinho, andNeymar are among the most well-known players in the sport. TheBrazil national football team (Seleção) is currently among the best in the world, according to theFIFA World Rankings. They have been victorious in theFIFA World Cup a record five times, in1958,1962,1970,1994, and2002.[130]
Basketball,volleyball,auto racing, andmartial arts also attract large audiences.Tennis,surfing,skateboarding,swimming, andgymnastics have found a growing sporting number of enthusiasts over the last decades. Some sports variations have their origins in Brazil.Beach football,[131]futsal (official version of indoor football),[132] andfootvolley emerged in the country as variations offootball.
Inmartial arts, Brazilians have developedcapoeira,[133]vale tudo,[134] andBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu.[135] Inauto racing, Brazilian drivers have won theFormula One World Championship eight times:Emerson Fittipaldi in1972 and1974;[136]Nelson Piquet in1981,1983, and1987;[137] andAyrton Senna in1988,1990, and1991.[138]
Brazil has undertaken the organization of large-scale sporting events: the country organized and hosted the1950 FIFA World Cup,[139] and the2014 FIFA World Cup event.[140] The circuit located inSão Paulo, calledAutódromo José Carlos Pace, hosts the annualGrand Prix of Brazil.[141]
São Paulo organized theIV Pan American Games in 1963,[142] andRio de Janeiro hosted theXV Pan American Games in 2007.[142] Brazil also tried for the fourth time to host theSummer Olympics withRio de Janeiro candidature in2016.[143] On October 2, 2009, Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the2016 Summer Olympics, which was the first held inSouth America.[144]
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As a society with strong traditional values, thefamily in Brazil is usually represented by the couple and their children.Extended family is also an important aspect with strong ties being often maintained.[145] Accompanying a world trend, the structure of the Brazilian family has seen major changes over the past few decades with the reduction of average size and increase in single-parent, dual-worker and remarried families. The family structure has become lesspatriarchal and women are more independent, although gender disparity is still evident inwage difference.[146]
Brazil inherited a highly traditional and stratifiedclass structure from its colonial period with deep inequality. In recent decades, the emergence of a largemiddle class has contributed to increase social mobility and alleviating income disparity, but the situation remains grave. Brazil ranks 54th among world countries byGini index.[147]
According to the anthropologist Alvaro Jarrin, "The body is a key aspect ofsociability inBrazilian society because it communicates a person'ssocial standing. Those with the resources and time to become beautiful will undoubtedly do so. Members of the upper-middle class use the phrase 'gente bonita' or 'beautiful people' as a euphemism for the people with whom they consider it appropriate to associate oneself. An up-and-coming locale, for instance, is not valued by its price of admission or its fare, but rather by the amount of 'gente bonita' who frequent it. The imbrication of race and class in Brazil produces this upper-middle class as normatively white, excluding a majority of the Brazilian population frombeauty. Afro-textured hair is portrayed as 'bad hair', and a nose considered wider and non-European is also described as a 'poor person's nose'. The physical features that are aesthetically undesirable mark certain bodies as inferior in the relatively rigid Brazilian social pyramid, undeserving of social recognition and full citizenship within the nation ... Since the body is considered to be infinitely malleable, a person who climbs thesocial ladder is expected to transform their body to conform to upper-middle-class standards. The working class is willing to spend on beauty not as a form of conspicuous consumption, but rather because it perceives beauty as an essential requirement forsocial inclusion."[148]
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In Brazilian culture, living in a community is vital due to the fact Brazilians are very involved with one another. "Brazilians organize their lives around and about others, maintain a high level of social involvement, and consider personal relations of primary importance in all human interactions. Being with others is so important that they are rarely alone and perceive the desire to be alone as a sign of depression or unhappiness."[149] Due to the fact Brazilians are highly involved with social life, many friends, family members, or business partners join together to associate.
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Although friend and family relationships have a large impact on Brazilian culture, business relationships are also crucial. "As Brazilians depend heavily on relationships with others, it is essential to spend time getting to know, both personally and professionally, your Brazilian counterparts. One of the most important elements in Brazilian business culture is personal relationships."[150] Brazilians maintain a comfortable business atmosphere by being respectful and using the correct greeting.
Upon greeting, Brazilians often express themselves physically. Women usually kiss the other individual on both cheeks and men give a pat on the back. Friendly gestures are used to greet one another. It is common for them to refer to the individual's social standing and then their first name when engaging in conversation. When Brazilians speak with an individual older than them, they address them as "senhor" (Mister) or "senhora" (Miss), accompanied by the individual's first name. In Brazil, the general rule is to use a formal greeting when communicating with people who are unfamiliar or older.[151]
According to the anthropologist Alvaro Jarrin, "Beauty is constantly lived, breathed and incorporated as a social category insoutheastern Brazil. The talk of beauty is pervasive in all kinds of media, fromtelevision tosong lyrics, and it is a daily concern of people of all incomes and backgrounds. Remarking about a person's appearance is not only socially permissible, it is equivalent to inquiring about that person's health and showing concern for them. If a person does not look his or her best, then many Brazilians assume the person must be sick or going through emotional distress."[148]Vanity does not carry a negative connotation, as it does in many other places. The average weight of a Brazilian woman is 62 kilos (137 lbs),[152] as opposed to 75 kilos (166 lbs) in the United States[153] and 68 kilos (152 lbs) in the United Kingdom.[154]
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Brazil has moreplastic surgeon per capita than anywhere else in the world.[156] In 2001, there were 350,000cosmetic surgery operations in a population of 170 million.[157] This is an impressive number for a nation where sixty per cent of theworking population earns less than 150 U.S. dollars per month.[158] In 2007 alone, Brazilians spent US$22 billion on hygiene and cosmetic products making the country the third largest consumer of cosmetic products in the world.[157] 95% of Brazilian women want to change their bodies and the majority will seriously consider going under the knife. The pursuit of beauty is so high on the agenda for Brazilian women that new research shows they spend 11 times more of their annual income on beauty products (compared to UK and US women).[159] Brazil has recently emerged as one of the leading global destinations formedical tourism. Brazilians are no strangers to cosmetic surgery, undergoing hundreds of thousands of procedures a year, by allsocio-economic levels as well.[160]
The general attitude in Brazil towardcosmetic surgery borders on reverence. Expressions such as "the power of the scalpels", "the magic of cosmetic surgeries", and the "march toward scientific progress" are seen and heard everywhere. Whereas cosmetic surgery in the U.S. or Europe is still seen as a private matter, and one that is slightly embarrassing or at least socially awkward, in Brazil surgeries are very public matters. To haveplastic surgery is to show that you have the money to afford it. In Brazil, modifying one's body through surgery is about more than just becoming more beautiful and desirable. It is even about more than showing that you care about yourself, which is a phrase in the Brazilian mass media. Surgical transformations are naturalized as necessary enhancements. Instead, modifying your body in Brazil is fundamentally about displaying your wealth. But since much is associated with race, changing one's body is also about approximating whiteness.[161] An April 2013 article inThe Economist noted that "[looking white] still codes for health, wealth and status. Light-skinned women strut São Paulo's upmarket shopping malls in designer clothes; dark-skinned maids in uniform walk behind with their bags and babies. Black and mixed-race Brazilians earn three-fifths as much as white ones. They are twice as likely to be illiterate or in prison, and less than half as likely to go to university. ... The unthinking prejudice expressed in common phrases such as 'good appearance' (meaning pale-skinned) and 'good hair' (not frizzy) means many light-skinned Brazilians have long preferred to think of themselves as 'white', whatever their parentage."[162]
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There are marking differences between perceptions of beauty among working-class patients in public hospitals, and upper-middle class patients in private clinics. Plastic surgery is conceptualized by the upper-middle class mainly as an act of consumption that fosters distinction and reinforces the value of whiteness. In contrast, working-class patients describe plastic surgery as a basic necessity that provides the "good appearance" needed in the job market and "repairs" their bodies from the wear of their physical labour as workers and as mothers. Patients from different walks of life desire plastic surgery for different reasons.
The idea that physical appearance can denote class, with the implication that modifications in one'sphysical appearance can be seen as markers ofsocial status extends throughout Brazil. Put within a context of explicitsocial inequality, the link between the production ofbeauty andsocial class becomes quite evident. Brazilians place heavy importance on beauty aesthetics; a study in 2007 revealed that 87% of all Brazilians seek to look stylish at all times, as opposed to the global average of 47%.[163] The body is understood in southeastern Brazil as having a crucial aesthetic value, a value that is never fixed but can be accrued through discipline and medical intervention. This 'investment' in the body is nearly always equated with health because a person's well-being is assumed to be visible on the surface of their body. One of the most common (and harshest) expressions about beauty in Brazil is "There are really no ugly people, there are only poor people."[164]
| Date | English name | Portuguese name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Ano Novo/ Confraternização Universal | Celebrates the beginning of theGregorian calendar year. Festivities include counting down to midnight on the preceding night. The traditional end of the holiday season. |
| March/April (Variable) | Good Friday | Sexta-feira Santa | Christian holiday, celebrates the passion and death of Jesus on the cross. |
| April 21 | Tiradentes' Day | Dia de Tiradentes | Anniversary of the death ofTiradentes (1792), considered anational martyr for being part of theInconfidência Mineira, an insurgent movement that aimed to establish an independent Brazilian republic. |
| May 1 | Labor Day | Dia do trabalhador | Celebrates the achievements of workers and the labour movement. |
| June (Variable) | Corpus Christi | Corpus Christi | A national Catholic holiday which celebrates the Eucharist and the belief in the real presence of Jesus in the host. |
| September 7 | Independence Day | Dia da Independênciaor 7 de Setembro | Celebrates theDeclaration of Independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822. |
| First and last Sunday in October | Election Day | Dia da Eleiçãoor Eleições | Every 2 years, Brazilians must vote. The first election round always happens on the first Sunday in October; if a second round is needed, it will happen on the last Sunday in the same October. |
| October 12 | Our Lady of Aparecida' Day | Dia de Nossa Senhora Aparecida | Commemorates theVirgin Mary asNossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida,Patron Saint of Brazil. Also celebrated asChildren's Day (Dia das Crianças) on the same date. |
| November 2 | All Soul's Day | Dia de Finados | Another Christian holiday, commemorates the faithful departed. |
| November 15 | Republic Day | Proclamação da República | Commemorates the end of theEmpire of Brazil and the proclamation of theBrazilian Republic on November 15, 1889. |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | Natal | Celebrates thenativity of Jesus. |
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