Culture of Venezuela

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Instituto Arnoldo Gabaldón, declared on August 30, 1984, as a National Historic Landmark

The cultures of Venezuela are diverse and complex, influenced by the many different people who have made Venezuela their home. Venezuela has distinctive and original art, literature and music.

People

Venezuela's cultural heritage includes the original

Protestant
.

Venezuela's heritage, art, and culture have been heavily influenced by its Caribbean context, including its historic architecture,[1] art,[2] landscape and boundaries.

Art

Carlos Cruz-Díez; and contemporary artist Yucef Merhi
.

Literature

Fermin Toro emerged as the first important genre in the region. Although mainly focused on narrative writing, Venezuelan literature was also advanced by poets such as Andrés Eloy Blanco and Fermín Toro
.

Major writers and novelists include Rómulo Gallegos, Teresa de la Parra, Arturo Uslar Pietri, Adriano González León, Miguel Otero Silva, and Mariano Picón Salas. Andrés Bello was also an educator and poet. Other, such as Laureano Vallenilla Lanz and José Gil Fortoul, contributed to Venezuelan positivism.

Music

Folk music of Venezuela is exemplified by the groups Un Solo Pueblo and Serenata Guayanesa. The national musical instrument is the cuatro. Typical musical styles and pieces mainly emerged in and around the llanos region, including "Alma Llanera" (by Pedro Elías Gutiérrez and Rafael Bolívar Coronado), Florentino y el Diablo (by Alberto Arvelo Torrealba), Concierto en la Llanura (by Juan Vicente Torrealba), and "Caballo Viejo" (by Simón Díaz).

The Zulian

Proms

Festivals

The celebration of

Corpus Christi
includes dancing in the streets in masks and uniforms of Dancing Devils. The tradition dates back to Spanish colonial times.

Sports

Baseball is Venezuela's most popular sport.[citation needed] There is a Venezuela national football team.

The World Values Survey has shown Venezuelans to be among the happiest people in the world, with 55% of those questioned saying they were "very happy" in 2007.[3]

Sources

  1. ^ "Coro and its Port". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 1993.
  2. ^ "Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2000.
  3. ^ "Happiness Statistics By Country". Nationmaster.com. Retrieved June 21, 2007.

Nick Wood