Chilean culture

The Chilean culture is the heritage of habits, customs and traditions resulting from the relationship between different peoples and worldviews, which occurred within the context of the American continent and specifically of Chilean territory, which shapes to the imagination of a standard commonly referred to as chilenidad.

Origins

Spanish of Chile.

The gestation of the Chilean cultural identity occurs from the results of the Spanish colonization and the constant inter-ethnic exchange with the native indigenous people. However, beyond a static and immovable characterization of the notion of Chilean culture, it is prudent to conceive it as a mutable, dynamic unit affected by the ups and downs of history, politics and religion. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account the different influences that have allowed its appearance and development. Either those that are the product of the different migratory waves, those that come from aspirations derived from the economic model or from modernity itself as a socio-historical moment, to name a few.

The arrival of the European settlers defines the moment of identity construction of the national normativity, especially linked to the haciendas and estancias, the huasos, the cultivation of wheat and the war against the Araucanians. In other words, a Creole normativity in the face of the parallel process of miscegenation. In effect, the elites are formed by conducting a colonist linearity, closely linked to status religious of Catholicism, genealogical and traditionalist.

Language

The de facto language since colonial times has been Spanish or Castilian which, due to the historical and local peculiarities of the central area, marked by a strong influence of Andalusian phonetics, became what is currently recognized as a completely differentiated variant, continental Chilean Spanish. Likewise, the presence of indigenisms, Anglicisms, locutions and idioms is reiterated, which are used interchangeably by speakers in formal and informal situations of daily life, in the media and in spaces of all kinds.

There are variants of Chilean Spanish defined mainly by the socioeconomic stratum, within which there are important alternations in the pronunciation, intonation and meaning of the words. However, it is also possible to contemplate regional variations in some areas of the country, especially those furthest away from large urban centers, such as the case of Chilote Spanish.

Artistic expressions

Architecture

Some of Chile's most important architectural works

Church of San Francisco Palacio de La Moneda Church of Ichuac The Benedictine Church Casa de la Cultura de Arica Viaducto del Malleco Biobío Theatre Vergara Palace Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center Castro Palafitos Paseo Baquedano Bories fridge Cerro Santa Lucia Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Puerto Varas Cepal Building Sewell Plaza España Isabel La Católica Bahá’í Temple Ruins of Huanchaca Central Market of Santiago Garden of the Heart Park

Monuments

In 1999 it was agreed to commemorate the day of the cultural heritage of Chile, based on the efforts to revalue the architectural, cultural and historical heritage. During that day, public buildings and museums are freely accessible to all citizens.

The monuments built for commemorative purposes within the Catholic faith are quite common throughout the country, some of the most relevant are the Votive Temple of Maipú, the Christ the Redeemer of the Andes, the Third Millennium Cross in Coquimbo, the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Lo Vásquez and the Padre Hurtado Sanctuary, among many others.

Cinema

Dance

Dance appears as part of the religious liturgy and Corpus Christi, as well as masquerades and pantomimic shows. Then the activities within family life in the XVIII century with gatherings. These traditional meetings were transformed into more formal acts that made the work of choreographers essential, who even published the first dance treatises subject to great popular acceptance.

The first dance mentioned in Chile is the panana, enjoyed personally by Governor Francisco de Meneses Brito. Other common dances of the time are the minuet, the gavotte, and the quadrille. During the 19th century it was frowned upon not to dance in social gatherings, where the main steps picked up rhythm with the zamacueca, the refalosa and the chincolito, among others. In this same period, new European dances were also imported and at the end of the century, with the arrival of Italian opera, the incursion of dance into more refined expressions began. In the 1940s, dance was formally established as an academic branch, thanks to the influence of Ana Pavlova's visit and the founding of the Kurt Jooss academy.

Photography

The first records of daguerreotypes in the country date back to 1843, at the hands of the Frenchman Philogone Daviette and the Chilean José Dolores Fuenzalida. From that date forward, various photographic studios were installed, which with the development of captures on paper allowed mass access to photography in the middle and upper classes. This gave way to the creation of visual content in magazines and print media. The photograph marks the beginning of an identity recreation project in accordance with the western modernizing ideology, that is, a search that includes the replication of formality and stereotypes. European. However, this reproduces a historical condition of imbalance between the different groups in society and, in effect, the demarcation of a border line between included and excluded, based on a normativity defined by the canon of European cultural representation. The works by the Chilean photographer Teresa Carvallo Elizalde include the first efforts, since 1875, to build and solidify an autonomous local canon, especially associated with life in central Chile.

Cartoon

Trading Card Games

In contemporary Chile, collectible card games such as Mitos y leyendas, Humankind or Cazaurio have achieved great reach, commonly marketed in periodic series that vary in design and content.

Literature

Pablo Neruda, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.

The beginnings of the literary tradition can be evidenced with Alonso de Ercilla in his epic poetry La Araucana, a work that recounts the first conflicts between Spanish settlers against Mapuche indigenous people. It is perhaps the first written source of cultural and national referencing of the incipient country, with a marked military imprint and influenced by a feeling of border occupation. Another early work is Arauco domado published by Pedro de Oña in the year 1596, also with epic overtones where the argument accesses resources from classical mythology and the Renaissance.

Currently there is the National Book and Reading Council, in charge of proposing and articulating literary development programs, allocating resources and supporting the development of new productions. Among its objectives is also the promotion of reading, associated with the strengthening of the industry, the diffusion and the democratization of access.

Music

During the 1950s and 1960s, there was great interest in the recovery of traditional Chilean sounds, which influenced the emergence of musical groups such as Los Cuatro Huasos, Los de Ramón, Los Huasos Quincheros and Los Cuatro Cuartos.

Along with them numerous composers such as Raúl de Ramón, Violeta Parra, Luis Aguirre Pinto and Clara Solovera also proliferated, who disseminated and popularized the country's musical narratives nationally and internationally. The 1970s gave rise to the movement called New Chilean Song, with which artists and groups such as Víctor Jara, Violeta Parra, Los Jaivas, Illapu, Quilapayún and Inti-Illimani emerged.

In 1980 jazz fusion was consolidated, dominated by Latin American rhythms, with exponent bands of this phenomenon such as Congreso and Fulano.

Some exponents of Chilean rock are Los Prisioneros, Los Tres, Lucybell, Los Bunkers, Saiko and La Ley. On the other hand, some female voices and exponents of Chilean pop are Nicole, Francisca Valenzuela, Javiera Mena, Denise Rosenthal and Mon Laferte.

Painting

Regarding the artistic development of images and pictograms dates back to long before Spanish colonization, as native indigenous peoples existed and coexisted in multitudes upon the arrival of the colonists. That compromised a "clash of two worlds", which produced an exchange of knowledge but also the disappearance of goods and cultural manifestations.

This section is an extract of Painting from Chile.[chuckles]edit]

The Huaso and the Lavandera by Mauritius Rugendas (c. 1835), one of the best-known paintings in Chile. Currently the work is located at the Museum of Fine Arts in Chile.

Chile's painting covers all pictorial works carried out within Chilean territory, from the pre-Hispanic period, when it was developed by indigenous peoples, to modern times, where they are from the vanguards to the art developed by independent artists.

The times of Chilean painting are not strictly defined by historians and there are certain variations in the elaboration of a chronological structure. Certain authors detract from the importance of certain groups or exchange their participants. However, there is a chronological scheme according to the groups and generations that are happening through Chilean history, which is the most common form of journalization in artistic terms.

According to the above, Chilean painting began with the ritual objects and fabrics of the diaguita, Atacameño, rapanui, mapuche and other associated peoples, including inca civilization. It is also known that the peoples of the southern extreme developed the petroglyph art that lasts until today.

Subsequently, Chilean art was taken in the hands of the Society of Jesus on the arrival of the Spaniards to the current Chilean territory in the mid-16th century. After independence, Chilean pictorial art was commanded by a group of foreign artists who brought the painting of cavalry to the country. In the mid-19th century, the Academy of Painting was born and after it the "generation of the half-century" and the "generation of the great teachers of Chilean painting", made up of Juan Francisco González, Pedro Lira, Alberto Valenzuela Llanos and Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the first conglomerate of Chilean painters known as the "generation of the thirteen", led by Álvarez de Sotomayor, along with his successors: the avant-garde of the "Montparnasse group", promoted by Camilo Mori, and the "generation of the 28", which opened up a new Chilean art. During this period, the National Museum of Fine Arts of Chile was created in 1910, on the initiative of the sculptor José Miguel Blanco, among other characters.

In the middle of the 20th century, various visual experiences were carried out and authors such as Roberto Matta and Claudio Bravo who entered surrealism and hyperrealism respectively emerged. The contemporary era is marked by the entrance of the autonomous painting carried out by independent artists without establishing a pronounced trend towards abstract art or figurative art.

Broadcasting

Theater

In the year 1616, under the government of Alonso de Rivera, there is a record of the first theatrical manifestations based on religious motives, such as the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In 1633 there are also records of festivities in honor of San Francisco Solano, in which poetry recitals, masquerades and bullfights were held. On September 11 of that same year, in an improvised theater, multiple comedies performed by nobles, soldiers and silversmiths were represented. During the festivities associated with the marriage of Juana Urdanegui with Tomás Marín González de Poveda in 1693, fourteen Spanish comedies were represented and a Chilean one called The Chilean Hercules, authorship unknown until now.

The first dramatic work produced in the country was Love defeats duty, composed by Juan Egaña at the beginning of the 19th century.

Collective demonstrations

Commemorative dates

• January 20, “Chilean robe” Day; the battle of Yungay is commemorated.
• 12 February, Signature of the Declaration of Independence of Chile, Batalla de Chacabuco and the Foundation of Santiago de Chile.
• April 5, Maipú Battle Day.
• April 27, Chilean Carabineros Foundation, Carabinero Day.
• May 21, Iquique naval combat, Naval Glory Day.
• July 9, Battle of La Concepción, Flag Day.
• September 18, Day of the First Board of Government.
• September 19, Chilean Army Glories Day.
• 20 September, National Independence Day, in the IV Region of Coquimbo.
• October 8, Angamos naval combat.
• November 6, Chilean Antarctic Day.

Religious traditions

They are festivals or celebrations that contribute to maintaining and reproducing local traditions linked to a religious belief, commonly associated with the Catholic Church.

• January 6, Easter of Blacks (Epiphany).
• January 20, Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of San Sebastian de Yumbel.
• Corpus Christi
• Early May, Cruz de Mayo
• June 29, Fiesta de San Pedro.
• July 16, Feast of the Virgin of Carmen.
• August 15, Assumption of the Virgin.
• August 15, Our Lady of the Transit.
• August 30, Santa Rosa de Lima, Pelequén.
• August 30, Nazarene Jesus, Caguach Island, Chiloé.
• September 8, Fiesta de Ayquina.
• First Sunday of October, Virgin of La Candelaria.
• October 31, Day of the Evangelical and Protestant Churches.
• November 1, Commemoration of the Dead on the Day of All Saints.
• December 8, Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Lo Vásquez.
• December 25, Adoration of the Child God.

Carnivals

Carnivals are local celebrations or festivities that commemorate events of importance to the community, not necessarily of religious connotation. In Chile, they are mainly concentrated in the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá and Antofagasta, representing almost 50% of the total country. They are generally held in February preceding the celebration of Lent.

Geographically ordered from north to south, the following carnivals stand out:

Folklore

This section is a Folclore extract from Chile.[chuckles]edit]

The huaso and the lavenderby Mauricio Rugendas (1835).

It is understood by folklore (or folklore) of Chile, the group of handicrafts, dances, jokes, customs, stories, oral stories, legends, music, proverbs, superstitions and others, common to a specific population, including the traditions of such culture, subculture or social group that are given along the national territory, as well as the study of these subjects.

Because of the cultural and demographic characteristics of that country, it is the result of the mestizaje produced by European elements with indigenous elements during the period of La Colonia. Because of cultural and historical reasons, cultural expressions vary notoriously in different parts of the country, which is why five large areas are classified and distinguished in the country: North, North, Boy, Central, South and Southern.

The northern zone is characterized by various cultural manifestations that combine the influence of the Andean indigenous peoples with that of the Hispanic conquerors and the slaves to which the importance of the festivities and religious traditions is added, highlighting the diablades and the Fiesta de La Tirana.

The central area is mainly identified with the rural traditions of the Chilean countryside and the so-called Huasa culture, which extends between the regions of Valparaíso and Biobío, mostly. As the majority of the Chilean population is concentrated in this geographical region, the country ' s main cultural identity is traditionally considered and externalized in mid-September, during the celebration of Patrias Festivals. The folklore of the central area of Chile is of a predominantly Spanish roots, which is manifested in its music (both, tonadas, payas, the latter of exclusively Spanish origin), the musical instruments used (guitars, harps, accordion), the oral tradition (refranes, stories, poetry) and in the costume used (which in the huasoses is mainly of Andalusian origin). All of the above is explained because indigenous peoples and their ancestral culture disappeared from the Central Zone of Chile at the beginning of the century.XVIII.

In the south, the Mapuche culture and the traditions of the hacienda dominate in La Araucanía, while the German influence is preponderant in the vicinity of Valdivia, Ranco, Osorno and Llanquihue. On the other hand, in the Chiloé archipelago a culture was generated with its own mythology, originated by the syncretism of indigenous and Spanish beliefs.

The southern zone has generated its own identity influenced by immigrants, both from Chiloé and the centre of the country, and from the former Yugoslavia, and the culture of the gauchos and which in Magallanes is characterized by a marked regionalism.

The cultural identity of the Easter Island is unique due to the development of a polynesic culture since time immemorial completely isolated for centuries.

In 2007, the government established on August 22 as the "National Folk Day". However, since 2008, the same government has observed this ephemeris on October 4.

Sports and games

This section is a Sport extract in Chile.[chuckles]edit]

Chilean Medalists of the 2014 South American Games at the Palacio de La Moneda—the national government headquarters.

The sport in Chile is run by the Ministry of Sport and promoted by the National Sports Institute. The Olympic Committee of Chile organizes Olympic, Pan American and South American participation; while the Paralympic Committee of Chile, the Paralympic, Para-American and Para-American Committee. There are four popular in the country: the most practiced is football and the most successful is tennis, preferred in urban areas; while the rayuela and the rodeo are in rural areas, declared as their “national sports”.

During 2019, the State invested nearly 27 billion Chilean pesos at a competitive level and annually gives sportsmen the National Sports Award of Chile, and the Chilean Sports Journalists Circle, the Chile Sports Journalists Award for the Best Sports Award. National representatives are encouraged mainly by the choreado ceacheí yell and the important victories are celebrated with the Baquedano Square in the capital Santiago.

At the adult level, Chile will host the Pan-American Games in 2023, has also hosted the South American Games in 1986 and 2014, the Soccer World Cup in 1962, the Basketball World Championship in 1959, the Women's Basketball World Championship in 1953, the World Championship of Youth Skating in 1962 and 1980, the World Championship of Women's Skating Hockey in 2006, the World Championship

Also in Chile were organized youth world championships of various sports such as the World Cup of Football Sub-20 in 1987, the World Cup of Football Sub-17 in 2015, the Women’s Cup of Football Sub-20 in 2008, the Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup in 2019, the Women’s Basketball World Championship Sub-19 in 2011, the Junior Men’s Skate hockey World Championship in 2002-20, the World Championship of Women.

Among its achievements in team sports are the podiums in the adult world championships of football (3.o, 1962), tennis (2.o, 1976), basketball (2.o, 1953; 3.o, 1950 and 1959), polo (1.o, 2008 and 2015; 2.o, 1992 and 2017; 3.o, 2004) and skate hockey (1.o, 2006; 3.o, 2014 and 2019). Individuals highlight global titles in some sailing category, karate (2008), rally raid (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006), remo (2002), patin race (2013 and 2014), water ski (2013), halterophilia (2017), plate shooting (1965, 1966) and archery (2011). At the Summer Olympic Games, he has won thirteen medals: two gold, seven silver and four bronze; while at the Summer Paralympic Games, he has won seven medals: three gold, three silver and one bronze.

Typical sports

Games

Gastronomy

This section is an extract of Gastronomy from Chile.[chuckles]edit]

Chile’s gastronomy is the product of the mix between indigenous tradition and Spanish colonial contribution, combining its food, customs and culinary habits. Over time, it has had smaller contributions from European cuisines by immigrants, such as the German and Italian; however, in the centuryXX. had an important and marked influence of French cuisine. These elements formed what is known as "Chilean Creole cuisine", which stands out for its varied flavors, ingredients and colors, the result of the country's geographical diversity, accompanied by alcoholic beverages such as pisco and Chilean wine.

The most traditional dishes of the Chilean cuisine are the ajiaco, the anticuchos, the roasts, the calapurca, the cancato, the carbonada, the pot, the chapalele, the charquicán, the curanto, the empanadas of pine, the humitas, the milcao, the marine paila, the pantruca, the chocloca, the papal cake, the great fish, the other.

According to the Chilean Image Foundation in 2016, there are 14 types of Chilean cuisine: from the big north; north boy; urban of streets; urban of restaurants; urban homeland; peasant huasa; coastal; party; southern Central European; indigenous Mapuche; chilota; Patagonian; Chilean from overseas and high Chilean cuisine. Local artefacts are the Antu solar cooker, the Chilean oven and the Chilean toaster.

In the cities, it is offered in the picadas, in an environment alusive to chilenity. Since its inception in 2009, and "to recognize the gastronomic history of Chile and the current food of the Chilean people", the "Day of the Chilean Kitchen" was held in the country every April 15.

Typical preparations

Awards and recognitions

The President of Chile Sebastián Piñera, together with the Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín, delivered the 2010 National Awards.
From left to right: Carmen Luisa Letelier, Bernardino Bravo, Isabel Allende, Mary Therese Kalin, Juan Carlos Castilla.

• Chilean National Architecture Award
• Chilean National Art Award
• National Prize for the Arts of the Representation and Audiovisuals of Chile
• National Prize for Musical Arts of Chile
• National Prize for Plastic Arts of Chile
• National Youth Plastic Arts Award in Chile
• Award for National Music President of the Republic
• Order to the Artistic and Cultural Merit Pablo Neruda

Cultural institutions