Guatemala - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
168
Guatemala - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
168eBook
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Overview
Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include
* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken
"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel
"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel
"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer
"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine
"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781857335828 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Kuperard |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2007 |
| Series: | Culture Smart! , #8 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 168 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Read an Excerpt
Guatemala
By Lisa Vaughn
Bravo Ltd
Copyright © 2007 KuperardAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-85733-582-8
CHAPTER 1
LAND & PEOPLE
GEOGRAPHICAL SNAPSHOT
Guatemala, the northernmost of the Central American countries, is approximately 42,042 square miles (108,890 sq. km), making it about the size of the state of Tennessee, or of Ireland. It shares borders with Mexico and Belize to the north and northeast, Honduras and El Salvador to the east and southeast, and stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Honduras on the Caribbean Sea.
Three tectonic plates on the earth's crust meet in Guatemala, and there are many volcanoes in the mountainous areas, some of which are active, and occasional violent earthquakes. The short Caribbean coastline is susceptible to hurricanes and other tropical storms. The country consists of three main regions: the temperate rolling central highlands, with the heaviest population; the fertile tropical areas along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts; and the tropical jungle in the northern lowlands known as El Petén, which contains the famous Mayan site of Tikal.
The capital, Guatemala City, has a population of about 4 million people. Other towns and cities include Escuintla, Cobán, Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, Antigua, Chichicastenango, and Puerto Barrios. In 2007 the population was about 12.7 million, and the annual growth rate about 2.2 percent.
Guatemala is divided into twenty-two administrative departamentos, each of which has its own distinct cultural heritage and traditions. For instance, Huehuetenango — sometimes referred to as the "back door" of Guatemala because political leaders would often flee through it to Mexico to escape political strife — is the most ethnically diverse department, with seven languages spoken. Within it sits the municipality of Todos Santos, in the Cuchumatàn mountains, reachable from Paquix only by a gravel road. Todos Santos is home to the Mam-speaking Mayas, and is said to have one of the most magnificent views in all of Central America. Also in Todos Santos, visitors will see an impressive display of traditional clothing. The men wear distinctive red and white striped pants with black woollen breeches and beautifully embroidered shirt collars. The women wear dark blue skirts and intricately designed purple blouses, or huipiles.
The department and municipality of Quetzaltenango — or Mayan Xelaju, shortened to Xela — is the second-largest city in Guatemala, and is predominantly Mayan. Mayan culture is often celebrated amid the remaining colonial buildings. It attracts many foreigners who want to study Spanish in a less touristy location than Antigua.
An even greater contrast can be seen in Lívingston, in the Izabal department, which can only be reached by boat from Puerto Barrios and is home to the Garífuna people — sometimes called the Black Caribs. The Garífuna are descendants of Amerindians and Africans, who originally were thought to be shipwrecked slaves from Nigeria who swam to shore and sought protection from the Caribs on the island of Saint Vincent. Lívingston has a tropical, Caribbean feel, and drumming and reggae rhythms can be heard throughout the town.
El Petén is located in the far north of the country. The area is covered by rain forest and is home to the Mayan ruins of Tikal.
Guatemala City, the modern capital, is the hub of Guatemala, where all flights come into and go out of the country.
CLIMATE
Guatemala has been described as "The Land of Eternal Spring." This name comes from the tapestry-like countryside, the year-round, springlike, moderate climate, and the vibrant colors of Mayan weaving.
There are two seasons — the dry season, from November (inland) or January (along the coast) to April; and the wet season, from May to October (inland), or December (along the coast). The coasts are hot and humid, with heavy rain during the wet season, although there is some decrease in humidity during the dry season. During the wet season it stays damp, with rain storms sometimes occurring daily. The highlands have less rainfall and are cooler at night.
Temperatures vary with altitude, ranging from an annual average of 77° to 86°F (25° to 30°C) on the coast, to 68°F (20°C) in the central highlands, and 59°F (15°C) in the higher mountains.
It is coolest during December and January, and in some areas there may even be snow on the mountain tops. Overall, Guatemala enjoys warm or hot days and cool evenings year-round.
THE CULTURAL DIVIDE BETWEEN MAYA AND LADINOS
Guatemala is home to the largest group of indigenous peoples within Central America. They are collectively referred to as the Maya (or the Maya or Mayan Indians). Westernized Maya and mestizos (mixed European and indigenous ancestry or assimilated Amerindian) are known as "Ladinos," or locally as Guatemaltecos. The name "Ladinos" was originally used to identify Spanish-speaking Mayan Indians who provided labor and overseeing of the plantations and were supposed to keep the Maya in line. Later, Ladinos began to acquire land and wealth, and today the term has become chiefly a description of the national culture of Guatemala, but still distinguishes it from that of the true Mayan Indians.
Among the Maya, there are at least twenty-three different ethnic or language groups. The largest group is the K'iche' (estimated at about 887,000 people), followed by the Mam and Kaqchikel (estimated to be some 440,000 people in each group). Depending on how you classify the Maya — whether they wear the traditional dress (traje) or have abandoned it for a more urbanized lifestyle, or by primary language spoken (a Mayan language or Spanish) — it is estimated that from 44 percent to as much as 65 percent of the Guatemalan population are indigenous Maya.
Certain areas of Guatemala are highly populated by the Maya. For example, Alta Verapaz is almost 100 percent Maya, and Sololá and San Marcos are about 80 to 85 percent. Today, the Maya are struggling to retain their cultural and ethnic identity and have organized various cultural activist groups in order to preserve their culture (such as, for example, Aso Trama Mayan women's weaving cooperative). Locally, Mayan activists call this el movimiento Maya (the Maya movement), while others have referred to it as Maya nationalism, the pan-Maya movement, and the Maya revitalization movement. Other groups in Guatemala include the Xinca, who are indigenous non-Maya, and the Garífuna, who are African-Guatemalans living on the Caribbean coast of the country with an ambiguous history regarding their origin.
The Maya are the largest American Indian group in North and Central America. Today, most Maya, about 5 million, live in Guatemala. The rest live in southern Mexico, Belize, and the western parts of El Salvador and Honduras. Strictly speaking, the term "Maya" refers to a historic grouping of languages, much like the Romance languages; today the word has come to represent the ethnic rights movement of the Mayan people in Guatemala. Whether a person is Maya or Ladino really depends on self-identification. Most Guatemalans actually have a mix of Mayan and Spanish bloodlines, with a few "purebloods" at each end of the continuum.
Most Ladinos refer to themselves simply as "Guatemalans" and generally live in urban centers, although there are poor, rural Ladino villages. Ladinos tend to dress in North American or European style, speak Spanish, and typically reject their Mayan heritage, regarding it as inferior.
Those people who identify themselves as Maya consider themselves the heirs of ancient Mayan civilization, speak a Mayan language, live in rural Mayan communities, eat traditional foods, and typically wear traditional dress, although this has been abandoned by some, especially men. The indigenous Maya have been considered inferior since colonization by the Spaniards, and ethnic discrimination based on this classification has been profound.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Very little is known about the region that is now Guatemala prior to the Maya civilization. The earliest inhabitants of the Americas are thought to have crossed the Bering land bridge to Alaska from Siberia during the Fourth Ice Age. If true, this would explain why the indigenous Amerindian populations seem to have some Asiatic features.
The earliest recognizable culture in the Guatemala area dates from around 10,000 BCE. The Clovis people were big-game hunters, living at the end of the last Ice Age, whose finely worked flint and obsidian tools have been found in the Guatemalan highlands.
The Early Maya Pre-Classic Period (c. 1800 BCE-250 CE)
Mayan civilization flourished in Guatemala during the first millennium CE. Then, mysteriously, it declined. Exactly what happened and why the Maya disappeared from various parts of Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize is unclear.
From excavations of ancient sites, we have learned that the early Maya settled in the central lowlands of the Petén between 2000 and 1500 BCE. The development of pottery and architecture in the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000–300 BCE) shows the influence of the large Olmec civilization that originated in Veracruz, Mexico. From about 1 CE, in the Late Preclassic period (c. 300 BCE–250 CE), there was an explosion of Mayan culture in Guatemala with the building of pyramids and temples at Tikal, Uaxactún, and other cities in the Petén and around the country. One of the greatest preclassic Mayan cities is Kaminaljuyu, near Guatemala City. Later Mayan civilizations were noted for great cultural achievements, including hieroglyphic writing, knowledge of astronomy, architecturally designed cities, painted temples, stone monuments erected to honor important people, and other artistic forms such as painted ceramics and carved jade.
Animal sacrifices and later human sacrifices were often performed as offerings to the gods. Incense was (and still is) almost always burned during Mayan rituals. Today, many Maya believe that the surrounding mountains are the equivalent of their ancient temple–pyramids where deities dwell, and for this reason, traditional shamans still pray at mountain shrines. There is also a continuing belief in the spirits of the forest and evil winds that can provoke illness and disease in the world.
The Classic Maya Period (C. 250–900 CE)
According to many archaeologists, Mayan culture was at its finest during this period. This was when the Maya developed the famous Long Count calendar and a recognizable form of writing. There was a marked increase in temple, altar, and monument construction and increased military conquest.
At the apex of Mayan society was the semi-divine person of the king, and below him a large, sophisticated royal court. Nobles ran smaller fiefdoms on his behalf, and a wealthy upper class surfaced due to the growth in long-distance trade. Status was displayed by jewelry and adornment. One of the most valuable commodities was chocolate: cocoa beans were used as currency, and the nobility drank the cocoa! At the base of society were the peasants who worked the maize fields and lived from the forests.
The Maya seemed to organize themselves with and trade among a federation of city-states, each with their own religion and culture. Warfare became common, with these city-states vying for power.
The Maya in Decline
After about 830 CE, the elaborate construction and material advances came to a halt. Although the reason is not known, there are many theories about what caused the decline of the Mayan population. Some believe that the great Maya city-states succumbed to the general conflict and disorder common throughout Mesoamerica; others that a peasant revolt may have broken out in response to the growth and unreasonable demands of the ruling elite. Some scholars point to overpopulation and a demand for increased food production, and the subsequent loss of soil fertility and environmental problems connected to the need to feed the growing population. Epidemics, widespread illnesses, droughts and other natural disasters may also have contributed to the decline and collapse of the Mayan cities.
By about the tenth century, Mayan culture began to die out in many of their previously well-populated areas in Guatemala. As the Maya abandoned their city-states, the majority moved to northern Belize, the Yucatán Peninsula, and the Guatemalan highlands to the south, where they developed small rural villages with terraced farming and irrigation. Today, this area of Guatemala still has standing ruins and monuments from the Classic period and the indigenous people are proud of their living Mayan traditions.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Guatemala by Lisa Vaughn. Copyright © 2007 Kuperard. Excerpted by permission of Bravo Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Cover,Title Page,
Copyright,
About the Author,
Map of Guatemala,
Introduction,
Key Facts,
Chapter 1: LAND AND PEOPLE,
Chapter 2: VALUES AND ATTITUDES,
Chapter 3: RELIGION, CUSTOM, AND TRADITION,
Chapter 4: MAKING FRIENDS,
Chapter 5: HOME LIFE,
Chapter 6: TIME OUT,
Chapter 7: TRAVEL, HEALTH, AND SAFETY,
Chapter 8: BUSINESS BRIEFING,
Chapter 9: COMMUNICATING,
Appendix: Some Noteworthy Guatemalans,
Further Reading,
Acknowledgment,