The
Venezuelan population is a fusion of Indian and Spaniard
origins, enriched in the 16th and 17th centuries by the
arrival of African slaves, which added strong elements
of their culture to the present day blend and concentrated
mainly all along the Caribbean
coast and a later, quite important post II World War
immigration from Europe in the 1950’s, largely from Portugal,
Spain and Italy. It is not unusual then that Venezuela
has cults melting Indian, African and spiritualist beliefs.
The official language is the Spanish and most residents
are Roman Catholic.
The
indigenous peoples live mostly alongside the borders and
in the country’s remote and vast interior and the majority
are part of the Carib and Arawak language families. Between
the most known are the Yanomamis and the linked Sanema,
that live in the Amazon
and are very well known for their excellent basket ware,
pots, jars and other utensils. Other Amazon tribes are
the Panare, the Piaroa and the Yekuana or Makiritare,
who also inhabits the Caura River basin and are regarded
as very good boat makers. The Guajiros or Wayuu, live
in the north Zulia
State and constitute the largest group in the country.
They are renowned for their colorful, wool dresses. The
Warao dwell the never-ending streams of the Orinoco
Delta and are noted by their elaborated and useful
hammocks. The Pemon are an integral piece of the unique
Lost
World region and are the most involved in the tourism
business, managing camps and developing excursions and
expeditions in their ancestral territory. They are divided
in three families: Kamarakotos, Arekuna and Taurepan.
The
Andes
are a very good place to buy well-finished pottery, while
artisan towns in the vicinity of Barquisimeto are noted
for their textiles. Margarita
Island also has complete villages devoted to the arts
and crafts. Good quality hats made from palm fibers can
be bought in many parts of the country. Real size woodcarvings
of birds, Indian boats and religious deities are readily
available not only in many indigenous villages all across
the country but also in many cities and towns. Barinas,
in the Llanos,
is particularly noted for carvings of typical wildlife.
Ritual masks are also available in the Indian communities,
especially in Venezuela’s deep south but also in places
in which religious festivities like the Devil Dancers
of Corpus Christi take place.
The
most popular musical instrument is a smaller than normal
and four-stringed guitar called “Cuatro”, which is usually
escorted by the harp and the percussion instrument “Maracas”
to perform Venezuela’s national rhythm and dance, the
Joropo, also known as “Grassland Music”. The Joropo has
several different expressions according to the place of
the country where you are but it is most popular in the
Llanos.
The heart beating Drum Dances are a legacy of the African
influence and today they continue being performed by the
black populations all along the coast, mainly during the
celebrations of Saint John and Saint Peter and over Christmas.
The colonial town of Choroni,
Puerto Colombia and the nearby towns in the Henri Pittier
National Park are particularly famous for this expression
of the African culture in Venezuela. Surprisingly enough,
Calypso, Limbo and Steel Bands are common in the mining
town of El Callao, which is on the way to the Gran
Sabana, thanks to the immigrants from Trinidad that
moved there in the course of several gold rushes.
Several
and varied examples of the Spanish colonial architecture
have survived the times, and a good number of major cities
but also small towns and villages like Jaji in the Andes
and Choroni
in the Henri Pittier National Park offer colonial quarters
in their downtowns, including Caracas,
Ciudad Bolivar, Cumana (founded in 1521 and thus the continent’s
oldest town), El Tocuyo and the recently restored Puerto
Cabello. Most interesting is the adobe-built Coro, founded
in 1527 and therefore the oldest continuously settled
town in the continent. The best-conserved colonial city
in the country, it was declared an UNESCO World Heritage
Site in 1993.
Contact
us to include cultural
tours in a customized itinerary of travel to Venezuela.
