How Religion Influences How a Culture Develops

Religion and culture are two very separate topics, but when put together to depend on each other, they are very similar. Religion is basically the practices and faith on the beliefs of a group of people, of course there are many other definitions of religion that I could get into, but that is what religion is generally to me. Religion can be taken seriously, yet religion can be joked about, made fun of, and just not well respected. In my eyes, religion is something that people make apart of their lives so they can live everyday with the help of their God in better ways. Religion is also what people look forward to waking up to in the morning and what people make time for in their daily routines. My religion is Christianity, so my beliefs usually are common with the other Christians around me. However, many people that are not of the same religious group, disagree with my beliefs and practices. Usually, many people make fun of each other just because they don’t go by the same practices that you do in your daily routine. I find it harshly offending when people don’t take religions seriously, no matter which one it may be, it’s their religion and it’s what they grew up with. Does it really affect you that they practice something totally different? Absolutely not and I’m positive that the ones who are getting discriminated don’t care about your beliefs. So why should you? Besides the ones who criticize the others, don’t take the time to actually learn about their different type of religion. Who knows, it could become really fascinating.

            Religion is what makes up most of the people’s lives that live around you. It is what connects with their culture and how they grew up. Religion and culture somehow click in the end. For example, most of the people who are born in America are not Muslim (unless of course they migrated over) and most of the people who are born in Spain are not Jewish. It just doesn’t work like that because religion traces all the way down to the culture of someone. Religion definitely takes a huge roll in the way culture develops and carries through generations. Once a religion is started, through a family, it is usually passed down to the others and it keeps being practiced. Unfortunately religion can stop when the culture of a group struggles or even gets put to a hold. This usually happens when disagreements occur within, say, a family. It even happens whenever the practice of ones culture is forced to stop. For example, the Holocaust, it was the annihilation of the Jewish people who lived in that area, unfortunately, at the wrong time. Hitler wanted to totally wipe out the population of Jews, just because he disagreed with their beliefs and rituals. This doesn’t seem fair because Hitler most likely didn’t take the time to realize what being Jewish was all about. He just thought that they were strange and unusual, so he killed them all. Religion shouldn’t have to put up with discrimination like that. Even though most Jewish people at that time chose to take the path of practicing Judaism, it was hard not to go along with it because the religion of Judaism was passed down through centuries of generations. It’s hard to just stop a religion once it has been practiced through the family; it’s as if they were going to stop their culture too.

            As you can see, religion and culture are very different, yet so alike. They both depend on each other so much to keep both of them alive and passed down through families. Once one drops, the other is following right behind dying out as well. A culture cannot keep developing if the religion changes, because it is hard to break the traditional practices and throw in a complete new idea. It can happen, but it will be surely difficult. Some may see this as a bad thing, but I see it as keeping the customs alive. The saying “out with the old, in with the new” is true but when it comes to religion and culture, I believe it is great to stay with what you were taught with from the start, that way your background doesn’t get effected and stays stable. It’s really up to you, whether you want to have a fresh start or keep up with the traditions.

Latin American Cuisine

Food is food to many people, but to me, food is edible happiness. When I think of food I think of all the colors, the textures, the tastes, and how I can just express my creativity through it. I don’t cook much, but when I do I try to make unique meals that no one else would think of. Why cook something original? People make the same foods all the time because they are afraid that their customers may not enjoy the different and out of rage taste. In Latin America, the word “original” does not exist there. They go beyond the ordinary flavor in foods.

I wouldn’t lie about this, I’m Hispanic and my ancestors are from Latin America. My grandma and my mom, to me, make the best meals ever. Sometimes I look at the food questioningly because of how different it looks but when I taste it, there are no words to describe it. Dramatic? Not one bit, many people take food seriously and Latin America surely doesn’t mess around with food. Cooking is an art there. They cook meals ranging from plain rice with meat to a fancy tres leches cake. My favorite is called “arroz con pollo”, rice with chicken. Sounds simple and original but when they add their special ingredients like seasonings and some vegetables it tastes amazing.

Latin America is very unique by itself but when you try their incredible cooking, trust me, you would want to move there. The only thing they do that makes their food amazing is by putting their history, their hearts, and their fresh imagination, stir it into their meals, serve it to their customers, and hope to put their taste buds in heaven. It definitely works on me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_cuisine