Guatemalan Culture (part 1)

I am frequently asked to write about the Guatemalan culture, which as you can imagine, is hard to do as a visitor. Writing about ones culture is hard enough, but I am here as an outsider trying my best learn and accept the culture as it is (without looking through the eyes of the U.S. culture). Over the next few blogs I will write about a few topics that will help you all learn more about the Guatemalan life and culture.

Guatemalans are a warm and friendly people, regardless of how much someone has; sharing is an inherent element of their culture. As a whole, they are more patient and relationship orientated than us ‘gringos’. It is essential to learn the history of Guatemala to fully understand the mixture of cultures, reasons for the customs, socio-economic status and struggles of the peoples. Unfortunately, this is something that you will each have to research on your own. Here are some tools to get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Guatemala-HISTORY.html

The People: The majority of the population of Guatemala are direct descendants of the indigenous Mayan peoples, most of whom live in rural areas of the country and still wear traditional clothing (huiples y corte). Here is a link that has video of clothing typical of each region: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJH5_OReJX4. People of mixed European and indigenous (also known as ladinos) ancestry make up the second largest portion of the population and the third group is of the Garifuna or Afro-Guatemalans whom are primarily on the Caribbean coast. Although Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, it is the second language of many, and from what I’ve read there are 57 living indigenous languages.

Catholicism is the most common religion of the Guatemala peoples, followed by Protestantism, Evangelicalism and native beliefs.

Food: The staples of Guatemalan food are black beans, corn tortillas, eggs, rice, tamales, bread, milk, atoli (similar to oatmeal), various fruits, soup, chicken, pork and beef, coffee. Lunch here is the largest meal of the day and is usually around 1pm, dinner is small and usually later than we are accustomed to. Last night we ate dinner at 10pm, but typically most people eat around 7:30 or 8:30pm. A sample menu for a day would be as follows: My favorite breakfast is - scrambled eggs, refried black beans, dry/salty cheese (can’t remember how to say that in English, do we have a word?), fried plantains, tortillas and coffee. Lunch could be chicken, soup, tortillas and fresh fruit juice. Dinner – refried black beans, rice, tamales and tea or coffee. Champuradas (a type of sugar cookie) are a common snack to accompany coffee in the morning or afternoon.

Lunch is the largest and typically the most important meal of the day. In the past, families would take 2 or 3 hour lunches at home with the family, but in recent times (especially in the capital) lunch has turned into an hour at the food court or at the corner Pollo Campero (the national version of KFC). The overwhelming presence of fast food has definitely influenced the culture of Guatemala. As an example, in one small mall close to the Y there are 3 Burger Kings. Yes, three! One full size restaurant outside of the entrance, one mall-sized store front in the food court and the last one (which is small but always busy) is in the garage level. The only reason I can figure is that they didn’t want any McDonald’s competition in the mall, so they bought all three spaces.

I have both read about and personally noticed the love of refined sugar, which is used in large quantities here both in the villages as well as in the capital. When I lived in Totonicapan, I was often served a bowl of boiling milk, already sweetened with raw sugar, and then give me a box of cornflakes to poor into the bowl. It took a while to get used to cornflakes and warm milk but it actually makes sense due to the colder climate on Toto. Here in the capital sugar is used in coffee (often too sweet for me to drink), on pancakes, added to plain yogurt and even on fruit.

“Buen provecho” is what you say after someone finishes eating and also what you would say if you walked in when someone was eating. It basically means “that it serves you well or that you enjoy it”, a typical response would be “gracias, igualmente buen provecho”.

Good 'ol Wikipedia has a few interesting things to say about Guatemalan culture, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Guatemala. If you would like to learn even more about the history, politics, religion, food, demography, etc: http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Guatemala.html