Christmas tradition

• Latin American culture is rich in oral traditions, a product growing from 500 years of mixing the cultures of the native Indigenes (indigenous people), African slaves and Spanish colonizers.

Christmas time provides one the most important expressions of these traditions, full of music, lights, parties and food, but especially

villancicos .

• Guatemala:For nine days before Christmas, Las Posadas are celebrated as religious

processions pass through the streets. The figures of Mary and Joseph are carried to a friend's house, where a carol is sung asking for lodging for the Holy Family.

• Ecuador:Novenas, or house tours, begin the holiday season nine days before Christmas.

Ecuadorians visit other homes at this time looking at the nativity scenes. A special cookie, made with maple syrup, is eaten as a treat.

WHAT ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMS?Eating habits

• BRAZIL:The national dish of Brazil is feijoda completa, which consists of black beans cooked with smoked meats and sausages served with rice, sliced oranges, boiled greens, and hot sauce. It is topped with toasted cassava meal. Coffee, rum, and beer are common beverages.

• VENEZUELA: In Venezuela, cornmeal bread, or arepa, is a staple food. Arepa is cooked on a griddle and is sometimes stuffed with meat or cheese before it is fried. Pabellón caraqueño is also popular. This dish consists of flank steak served on rice with black beans, topped with fried eggs and garnished with plantain chips. Coffee, rum, and beer are common beverages.

Music and latin dance Merengue: The merengue rhythm is a moderate

to extremely fast duple meter, and is danced with a simple sideways couple two-step.

• It is found in both folk music, using accordion, double-headed tambora drum, and metal guayo scraper, and in various popular orchestral formats. It developed in 19 century , is a related from merengue Haiti. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MsCm0afMApg