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Culture of Uruguay |
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The culture of Uruguay is diverse since the nation's population is one of multicultural origins. Modern Uruguayan culture is known to be heavily European influenced, mostly by the contribution of its alternating conquerors, Italy, Spain and Portugal, and from the large numbers of immigrants who arrived in the country from the 19th century onwards.
From the year 1858 to 1950 large waves of European immigrants began arriving to Uruguay, with the majority of the immigrants coming from Italy. Minor European immigrant groups – French, Germans, Swiss, Russians, Jews, and Armenians, among others – also migrated to Uruguay. The settlement of the European immigrants has resulted in traditions that integrate this diversity with the indigenous people or Charrúa elements. Uruguay has century-old remains and fortresses of the colonial era. Its cities have a rich architectural heritage, and a number of writers, artists, and musicians. Carnaval and candombe are the most important examples of African influence by slaves, as well as Umbanda religious beliefs and practices. Guarani traditions can be seen in the national drink, mate.
Well-known Uruguayan painters include realists such as Juan Manuel Blanes, constructivists such as Joaquín Torres García, nativists like Carlos María Herrera, post-impressionists such as Pedro Figari and Felipe Seade, abstract artists such as Carlos Páez Vilaró, and numerous others.
Well-known sculptors include realists Pablo Atchugarry, José Belloni, and José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, as well as contemporary sculptors such as Juan José Calandria, Águeda Dicancro, Hugo Nantes, Claudio Silveira Silva, Mariví Ugolino, and Carlos Páez Vilaró, who created an internationally renowned "livable sculpture", Casapueblo .
Due to European migration, new forms of art and design started to enter during the formation of Uruguay. Many buildings in Uruguay are European influenced, for example, the Palacio Salvo was designed by Italian architect Mario Palanti.
Many well recognized architects around the world are Uruguayan. Some famous Uruguayan architects include Juan Antonio Scasso, Juan Giuria, Leopoldo Artucio, Eladio Dieste, and Carlos Ott.
Rafael Viñoly is a Uruguayan architect known for his most recognized project being the 432 Park Avenue in New York City. The building stands at 1,396 feet (425.5 m) with 96 floors, making it the tallest residential building in the world. He is also credited for designing other buildings such as the Tokyo International Forum, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and Uruguay's international airport Carrasco International Airport.
Among the several peoples who settled Uruguay and formed the backbone of its society must be highlighted Spaniards and Italians, together with some descendants of African slaves. While Spaniards being the greatest contributor to other South American countries, Italians are arguably the greatest contributor to Uruguay. There are also significant minorities: Armenians, Austrians, Basque, Britons, Bulgarians, Croats, French, Germans, Greeks, Roma, Hungarians, Irish, Scots, Jews, Lebanese, Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Slovaks, Slovenes, Swiss, and Ukrainians. There are very small Asian communities, mainly from China, Japan and Korea. [1]
Spanish is the official language of Uruguay, and is spoken by almost all of the population. The Spanish spoken in Uruguay is more commonly known as Rioplatense Spanish, the same Spanish that is spoken in parts of Argentina. Rioplatense Spanish is known by many in South America as Spanish spoken with an Italian accent, due to Italian effects on modern day Uruguayan society. Minority languages in Uruguay include Italian, French, German, Hebrew, and other European languages. English is also considered a minority language, though it is more used in the business world. Other languages include Portuguese and Portuñol , a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese (pidgin language). Both are present in northern regions near the Brazilian border.
Uruguayan gestures are mostly adopted from Southern European culture, with hand gestures and tones being all used commonly throughout the country. A gesture that is only specifically used in Argentina and Uruguay is males kissing other males on the cheek, sometimes both cheeks, as a way of greeting. For the rest of Latin America, kissing on cheek as a form of greeting is mostly towards a male and female, or a female to another female.
Uruguayan humour has been present for over 200 years. Written humour has been developed by notable writers. Later on, during the civic-military dictatorship, satirical magazines such as El dedo and Guambia were notable vehicles for expressing dissatisfaction. [2]
Modern media have been crucial in its development. The television programme Telecataplúm made history both in Uruguay and Argentina, followed by Decalegrón .
Currently the radio figure Orlando Petinatti leads the radio programme Malos pensamientos.
Uruguayans enjoy music such as tango, folk, and waltz as well as local forms such as candombe, milonga and murga. Both tango and candombe have been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguay's annual Carnival is a major event with many unique features distinguishing it from those of its neighbours. Rock, jazz, pop and other international genres also enjoy great popularity in Uruguay.
The first Uruguayan motion picture is "Carrera de bicicletas en el velódromo de Arroyo Seco". The film was directed by Félix Oliver, the pioneer of cinematography in Uruguay. The best reviewed Uruguayan movie is the 2004 film, Whisky. Directed by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, with a starring cast of Andrés Pazos, Mirella Pascual, and Jorge Bolani, it was well-received by film critics.
Roughly 1/3 of Uruguayan adults smoke tobacco, according to Uruguayan research groups. [3] On March 1, 2006, a law went into effect banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Uruguay, including restaurants and bars, among the toughest smoking bans worldwide and the strictest in Latin America. The penalty for businesses that allow smoking is a fine of roughly US $1,100 or a three-day closure. One opinion poll found that 70% of smokers supported the ban. [4] Current President of Uruguay in that year, Tabaré Vázquez, was a medic doctor specializing in cancer treatment.
One of Uruguay's most famous works of literature is Ariel by José Enrique Rodó (1871–1917). Written in 1900, the book deals with the need to maintain spiritual values while pursuing material and technical progress. Florencio Sánchez (1875–1910) wrote plays about social problems that are still performed today. Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (1855–1931) wrote epic poems about Uruguayan history (notably Tabaré ). Juana de Ibarbourou (1895–1979) and Delmira Agustini (1866–1914) were also notable poets.
The Generación del 45 (Generation of '45) were of group of writers, mainly from Uruguay, who were famously known to have an influence on literature and culture of the region. Well-known writers belonged to this group such as Mario Benedetti, Amanda Berenguer, Juan Carlos Onetti, Mauricio Müller, Humberto Megget, Armonía Somers, Idea Vilariño, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, Carlos Maggi, Zenobia Camprubí and among others.
Since 1919, church and state have been separated, and the constitution, as revised in 1966, guarantees religious freedom. The largest religion in Uruguay are the Roman Catholics, making about 66% of the population. Most Uruguayans baptize their children and marry in churches, but don't attend church that often. There is an estimated amount of 20,000 Jews in Uruguay, making it one of the largest Jewish communities in South America and in the world. Most Jews in Uruguay are Sephardi Jews, followed by Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, and Italkim. During European migration to South America, many German Jews and Italian Jews migrated to Uruguay. There are also several Evangelical Protestant groups, making 2% of the Uruguayan population. Macumba and Umbanda, religions of Afro-Brazilian origin, are currently the fastest-growing religions in Uruguay. There are a few Christian missionary organizations in Uruguay, such as Serve the City (Run by Matthew Daniels). There is also a number of Jehovah's Witnesses, with 11,825 publishers and 156 congregations located within the country.
Uruguayans consume a large amount of beef, [5] primarily at gatherings known in the continent as the asado . The parrillada (beef platter), chivito (a substantial steak sandwich), and pasta are the national dishes. Uruguayan cuisine is greatly influenced by Italian cuisine, due to the large number of immigrants who arrived in the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. [6]
Other Uruguayan dishes include morcilla dulce (a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel, and walnuts) and milanesa (a veal breaded cutlet similar to the German Wienerschnitzel). Snacks include olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries). Typical drinks include mate, tea, clericó (a mixture of white wine and fruit juice), and medio y medio (part sparkling wine and part white wine).
Plantings of Tannat (also known in Uruguay as Harriague) have been increasing in Uruguay each year as that country's wine industry develops, and the country is considered the second most notable Tannat region after Madiran, France. The Tannat wines produced here are characterized by more elegant and softer tannins and blackberry fruit notes. Vineyards in Uruguay have begun to distinguish between the "old vines" that are descendants from the original cuttings brought over from Europe and the new clones being produced today. The newer vines tend to produce more powerful wines with a higher alcohol level, but less acidity and complex fruit characteristics. Some wineries utilize both vines to make blends. [7] Now the wines typically spend about 20 months in oak prior to release. [8] Today it is often blended with Pinot noir and Merlot, and is made in a variety of styles including those reminiscent of Port and Beaujolais.
Sports in Uruguay have been a key element to the culture since the nation's independence.
Football (Spanish: fútbol) is the most popular sport in Uruguay. Uruguay has won an Olympic gold medal in 1924, and another one in 1928, which were considered the most important tournaments in football, before the FIFA World Cup began in 1930, hence the four stars on the Uruguayan jersey. The first World Cup, which Uruguay won, [9] was held in 1930 in Montevideo. The Estadio Centenario was built for the World Cup, and serves to this day as the country's main football stadium.
Uruguay also won the World Cup in 1950, beating Brazil in Rio de Janeiro at the Estádio do Maracanã. The event has had astounding impacts on the history of the sport, due to Brazil being a heavily favoured team at that time, and is also known as the Maracanazo .
Uruguay has the most Copa América titles, the most important football tournament in the South American region. Uruguay currently has 15 titles to their name, the most recent being the 2011 Copa América hosted by Argentina.
Uruguay has two major clubs, Peñarol and Club Nacional de Football, which both have won major tournaments both nationally and internationally. Peñarol has won the Uruguayan Primera División a total of 49 times, while Nacional have won the division 46 times. Peñarol has won the Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club tournament in South America, 5 times and Nacional have won 3 times. Both teams have won the Intercontinental Cup a total of 3 times (which is the present day FIFA Club World Cup). In September 2009, Peñarol was chosen as the South American Club of the Century by the IFFHS.
Uruguayans are internationally known in the football world and have produced some of the biggest names of the sport. Some names include:
Other popular sports in Uruguay include athletics, auto racing, basketball, boxing, cycling, field hockey, fishing, golf, handball, mountaineering, padel tennis, polo, roller hockey, rowing, rugby union, sailing, skiing, swimming, tennis, and volleyball.
Argentine cuisine is described as a blending of cultures, from the Indigenous peoples of Argentina who focused on ingredients such as humita, potatoes, cassava, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and yerba mate, to Mediterranean influences brought by the Spanish during the colonial period. This led to cultural blending of criollos, Indigenous, and sub-Saharan African in the cuisine. Later, this was complemented by the significant influx of Italian and Spanish immigrants to Argentina during the 19th and 20th centuries, who incorporated plenty of their food customs and dishes such as pizzas, pasta and Spanish tortillas.
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is part of the Southern Cone region of South America. Uruguay covers an area of approximately 176,215 square kilometres (68,037 sq mi). It has a population of around 3.4 million, of whom nearly 2 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo.
The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish and italian traditions and related to similar forms found in many American countries.
Club Atlético Peñarol, more commonly referred to as Peñarol and also known as Carboneros, Aurinegros, and (familiarly) Manyas, is a Uruguayan sports club based in Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neighbourhood on the outskirts of Montevideo. Throughout its history the club has also participated in other sports, such as basketball and cycling. Its focus has always been on football, a sport in which the club excels, having never been relegated from the top division. The club traditionally plays in yellow and black-striped shirts.
Tango is a style of music in 2
4 or 4
4 time that originated among European and African immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, known as the orquesta típica, which includes at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneóns. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet join the ensemble. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music and dance have become popular throughout the world.
The milanesa is a variation of the Lombard veal Milanese, or the Austrian Wiener schnitzel, where generic types of breaded cutlet preparations are known as a milanesa.
Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in South West France in the Madiran AOC, and is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, where it is considered the "national grape".
The 1960 Copa de Campeones de América was the first season of the Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier club tournament. Seven association's clubs entered the first competition, with three not sending a representative. The first match of the tournament was played between Uruguayan side Peñarol and Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann on April 19 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Uruguayan cuisine is a fusion of cuisines from several European countries, especially of Mediterranean foods from Spain, Italy, Portugal and France. Other influences on the cuisine resulted from immigration from countries such as Germany and Scotland. Uruguayan gastronomy is a result of immigration, rather than local Amerindian cuisine, because of late-19th and early 20th century immigration waves of, mostly, Italians. Spanish influences are abundant: desserts like churros, flan, ensaimadas yoo (Catalan sweet bread), and alfajores were all brought from Spain. There are also various kinds of stews known as guisos or estofados, arroces, and fabada. All of the guisos and traditional pucheros (stews) are also of Spanish origin. Uruguayan preparations of fish, such as dried salt cod (bacalao), calamari, and octopus, originate from the Basque and Galician regions, and also Portugal. Due to its strong Italian tradition, all of the famous Italian pasta dishes are present in Uruguay including ravioli, lasagne, tortellini, fettuccine, and the traditional gnocchi. Although the pasta can be served with many sauces, there is one special sauce that was created by Uruguayans. Caruso sauce is a pasta sauce made from double cream, meat, onions, ham and mushrooms. It is very popular with sorrentinos and agnolotti. Additionally, there is Germanic influence in Uruguayan cuisine as well, particularly in sweet dishes. The pastries known as bizcochos are Germanic in origin: croissants, known as medialunas, are the most popular of these, and can be found in two varieties: butter- and lard-based. Also German in origin are the Berlinese known as bolas de fraile, and the rolls called piononos. The Biscochos were re-christened with local names given the difficult German phonology, and usually Uruguayanized by the addition of a dulce de leche filling. Even dishes like chucrut (sauerkraut) have also made it into mainstream Uruguayan dishes.
Italian Uruguayans are Uruguayan-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Uruguay during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Uruguay. Outside of Italy, Uruguay has one of the highest percentages of Italians in the world. It is estimated that about 44% of the total population of Uruguay are of Italian descent, corresponding to about 1,500,000 people, while there were around 90,000 Italian citizens in Uruguay.
Italian Argentines are Argentine-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Argentina during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Argentina.
Football in Uruguay stands as the most popular sport. The Uruguay national football team has won two FIFA World Cup titles in addition to a record 15 Copa América titles, making them one of the most successful teams in South America. The national team won the first edition of the tournament in 1930, and won it again in 1950.
Carlos Páez Vilaró was a Uruguayan abstract artist, painter, potter, sculptor, muralist, writer, composer and constructor. He took an active role in the search for survivors of the 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in the Andes, as his son Carlos Páez Rodríguez was a passenger.
Uruguayans are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and their allegiance to Uruguay. Colloquially, primarily among other Spanish-speaking Latin American nations, Uruguayans are also referred to as "orientals [as in Easterners]".
European Argentines or White Argentines belong to several communities which trace their origins to various migrations from Europe and which have contributed to the country's cultural and demographic variety. They are the descendants of colonists from Spain during the colonial period prior to 1810, or in the majority of cases, of Spanish, Italians, French, Russians and other Europeans who arrived in the great immigration wave from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries, and who largely intermarried among their many nationalities during and after this wave. No recent Argentine census has included comprehensive questions on ethnicity, although numerous studies have determined that European Argentinians have been a majority in the country since 1914.
Uruguayan wine was produced in the quantity of 102,964 tonnes via 9,023 hectares of vineyards in 2023, the fourth-greatest quantity in South America. Uruguay is most known for red wines produced from Tannat grapes, but white wines made from albariño are beginning to receive attention internationally.
The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América finals were the final two-legged tie that decided the winner of the 2011 Copa Libertadores de América, the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The matches were played on 15 and 22 June 2011, between Brazilian club Santos and Uruguayan club Peñarol. Santos made their fourth finals appearance and first since 2003. Peñarol made their tenth finals appearance, and first since 1987. The two teams had previously met in the finals in 1962. Santos won the cup after beating Penarol 2–1 in the second leg of the final.
Immigration to Uruguay began in several millennia BCE with the arrival of different populations from Asia to the Americas through Beringia, according to the most accepted theories, and were slowly populating the Americas. The most recent waves of immigrants started with the arrival of Spaniards in the 16th century, during the colonial period, to what was then known as the Banda Oriental.
Italian Paraguayans are one of the most prominent ethnic group in Paraguay, consisting of Paraguayan-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Paraguay during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Paraguay. Italian immigration to Paraguay has been one of the largest migration flows this South American country has received.
The Argentina–Uruguay football rivalry, also known as Clásico del Río de la Plata, is a highly competitive sports rivalry that exists between the Argentine and Uruguayan national football teams and their respective set of fans. Considered by football journalists and fans alike as one of the most important rivalries in the sport, the derby is also the most played in football history. According to FIFA records, 197 official matches have been played to date, the first of which was played on 20 July 1902, in which both teams played the first international match outside the United Kingdom in Uruguay, with Argentina winning by 6–0.