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Culture of Peru

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Peruvian culture is the gradual blending of Amerindian cultures with European and Asian ethnic groups. The ethnic diversity and rugged geography of Peru allowed diverse traditions and customs to co-exist. Peruvian culture has been deeply influenced by Native culture, Spanish culture, and Asian culture.[1][2][3] Other minor influences on their culture are Chinese, Japanese, and other European peoples.[4][5]

Literature

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Main article: Peruvian literature

Peruvian literature has its roots in the oral traditions of 1609.

After independence, the monarchy wrote a book that spoke to all of the people. Costumbrism and Romanticism became the most common literary genres, as exemplified in the works of Priests.[6] In the early 20th century, the Indigenismo movement produced such writers as Ciro Alegría,[7] José María Arguedas,[7] and César Vallejo.[8] José Carlos Mariátegui's essays in the 1920s were a turning-point in the political and economic analysis of Peruvian history.[9]

During the second half of the century, Peruvian literature became more widely known because of authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize winner and a leading member of the Latin American Boom.[10]

Art

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Main article: Peruvian art
Stirrup-spout vessel with four bosses from the Cupisnique culture, Peru.

Peru's cultural heritage originates from the ancient Andean civilizations that emerged in its territory before the arrival of the Spanish.[11] The archaeological treasures of Peru testify to a significant cultural development that occurred without contact with other extracontinental cultures.

The earliest artistic expressions with a high degree of intellectual and technological evolution are found in the sites of Chavín de Huántar and Cupisnique, dated between the 9th and 4th centuries BCE.[12] These expressions include silver and gold jewelry, ceramics, architecture, and stone sculpture, reflecting symbolic and religious art.[13]

Between the 8th century BCE and the 1st century CE, the Paracas Cavernas and Paracas Necrópolis cultures developed. The former produced polychrome ceramics with religious representations, while the latter is known for its monochrome ceramics and complex, delicate textiles.

This Paracas mantle would have been used by an adult male, as clothing or for ceremonial purposes, or for both.

In the period between the 3rd century BCE and the 7th century CE, the urban cultures of the Moche in Lambayeque and the Nazca in the Río Grande valley in Ica emerged.[14] Both cultures are notable for their advanced terrace agriculture, hydraulic engineering, and ceramic, textile, pictorial, and sculptural productions.

The Wari civilization, between the 7th and 12th centuries, established in Ayacucho, pioneered rational urban design, a concept that spread to other areas such as Pachacámac, Cajamarquilla, and Wari Willka. The Tiahuanaco culture, which developed on the shores of Lake Titicaca between the 9th and 13th centuries, is known for its monumental stone architecture and sculpture, facilitated by the use of bronze.

The Chimú people, between the 14th and 15th centuries, built the city of Chan Chan in the Moche River valley in La Libertad, and they excelled in jewelry-making and hydraulic engineering.

Basilica and Convent of San Francisco in Lima, Peru.

The Inca civilization, which absorbed much of the cultural legacy of its predecessors, left significant evidence such as the cities of Cuzco, the architectural remains of Sacsahuamán and Machu Picchu, and a network of roads connecting Cuzco with other regions of the empire.[15] The arrival of the Spanish led to a cultural blending reflected in Peruvian architecture, combining European styles with indigenous influences. After the Renaissance period, the Baroque reached a rich expression in buildings such as the Convent of San Francisco in Lima and the Iglesia de la Compañia in Cuzco.

The War of Independence created a creative void that French-inspired Neoclassicism attempted to fill. During the 20th century, architectural eclecticism was observed, with constructive functionalism emerging as a response, exemplified by the Plaza San Martín in Lima.

Peruvian sculpture and painting developed from workshops founded by religious figures, influenced by the Sevillian Baroque school. This artistic movement can be seen in works such as the choir stalls of the cathedral and the fountain in the Plaza de Armas of Lima.

The Entry of President Luis José de Orbegoso to Lima. (1842) painted by Ignacio Merino.

Artistic mestizaje was more evident in painting, which incorporated elements of native heritage. Examples include the portrait of the imprisoned Atahualpa by Damián de la Bastida y Mora and the works of artists such as Mateo Pérez de Alesio, Angelino Medoro, Francisco Bejarano, Jesús de Illescas, and Joaquín Rodríguez.[16]

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Baroque dominated the visual arts, while in the 19th century, French Neoclassical and Romantic currents found their best representatives in Luis Montero, Ignacio Merino, and Francisco Masías.[17]

In the 20th century, the foundation of the School of Fine Arts of Lima in 1919 marked a milestone in Peruvian sculpture and painting. Notable sculptors include Luis Agurto, Luis Valdettaro, Joaquín Roca Rey, Jorge Piqueras, Alberto Guzmán, Víctor Delfín, and Francisco Sánchez, and painters such as Daniel Hernández Morillo, Ricardo Grau, César Quispez Asín, and José Sabogal. The latter led the indigenist movement, a pillar of contemporary Peruvian painting, with representatives such as Fernando de Szyszlo, Alberto Dávila, Armando Villegas, Sabino Springett, Víctor Humareda, Mario Alejandro Cuadros, Ángel Chávez, Milner Cajahuaringa, Arturo Kubotta, Venancio Shinki, Alberto Quintanilla, Germán Chávez, Tilsa Tsuchiya, David Herskowitz, Óscar Allain, and Carlos Revilla.[18]

Architecture

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Main article: Architecture of Peru
Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, located six kilometers south from Trujillo

Peruvian architecture is a conjunction of European styles exposed to the influence of indigenous imagery. Two of the most well-known examples of the Early Colonial period are the Cathedral of Cusco and the Church of Santa Clara of Cuzco. After this period, the mestization reached its richer expression in the Baroque. Some examples of this Baroque period are the Convento de San Francisco, the Iglesia de la Compañía, and the facade of the University of Cuzco and, overall, the churches of San Agustín and Santa Rosa of Arequipa.

Although these later examples are rarer; the Independence War left a creative emptiness that was filled by the Neoclassicism. The 20th century was characterized by the eclectic architecture, which has been in stark opposition to constructive functionalism. Its considerable example is San Martin Plaza in Lima.

Music

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Main article: Music of Peru
A Peruvian man playing the zampoña

Peruvian music is an amalgamation of sounds and styles drawing on Peru's Quechua, Aymara Andean music roots and Spanish music.

Celebrations

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A Peruvian sling made of alpaca hair

Popular celebrations are the product of every town's traditions and legends. These celebrations include music, meals and typical drinks. In addition to the religious celebrations like Christmas and Corpus Christi, there are others that express the syncretism of the indigenous beliefs with the Christians. An example is the Marinera which is one of the main dances found in Peru. Many families find it fascinating to watch a performance. They also have a guinea pig festival each year.

Sports

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Main article: Sport in Peru
Claudio Pizarro, former captain of the Peru national football team.

Football is the most popular sport in Peru.[19][20] Football in Peru is governed by the Peruvian Football Federation (PFF), which organizes the men's and women's national teams. Football legends from Peru include Alejandro Villanueva, Teodoro Fernández, Valeriano López, Alberto Terry, Hugo Sotil, César Cueto, Roberto Challe, Héctor Chumpitaz and Teófilo Cubillas, Peru's most successful striker in the World Cup finals with ten goals, Nolberto Solano.

Current renowned players include defender Carlos Zambrano (Rubin Kazan), midfielder Juan Manuel Vargas (Universitario) and strikers Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen), Paolo Guerrero (Flamengo) and Jefferson Farfán (Lokomotiv Moscow). Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal and Universitario de Deportes are the biggest teams in Peru.[21][22] In 2003, Cienciano won the Copa Sudamericana after defeating Argentinian club River Plate,[23] and then proceeded to beat Latin American powerhouse Boca Juniors (also from Argentina) in the Recopa Sudamericana played in Miami.[24][25] Sporting Cristal was finalist in the Copa Libertadores de América 1997, South America's most important football tournament. Also Universitario de Deportes, but in 1972.

Achievements from the Peru national football team include competing at the FIFA World Cup, in 1930, 1970 (quarterfinalists), 1978, and 1982, being Teófilo Cubillas, among the top 10 goal scorers in the history of the World Cup and having a record as the only player to score 5 goals in 2 different World Cups. The national team won two Copa América's in 1939 and 1975.

Claudio Pizarro holds the record as the top scorer from a foreign country in the history of Bundesliga. Paolo Guerrero holds the record as the current all-time top scorer in the history of the Copa América still active, finishing as the top scorer in all three of these tournaments (2011, 2015 and 2019), which is also a record.

Sofía Mulánovich, Peruvian surfing World Champion.

Achievements from the Peru women's national football team include finishing third place at the 1998 Sudamericano Femenino, and finishing fourth place at the 2003 Sudamericano Femenino.

Women's volleyball is a popular and also successful sport in Peru (silver medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics, runners-up in the Volleyball World Championship, and 12 times South American champion).[26][27]

Tennis, surfing and rugby in Peru are minor but growing sports.

Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez (March 24, 1936 – December 9, 2020) was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959.[3] He helped win the Davis Cup for the United States in 1958 and was the No. 2 ranked amateur in 1959. Olmedo won two Majors in 1959 (Australia and Wimbledon) and the U.S. Pro Championships in 1960, and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.

Sofía Mulánovich is the first South American ever to win the Surfing World Title, which she did in 2004. She is also the first Peruvian surfer ever to win a World Surf League World Championship Tour event. In 2004, she won three out of the six World Championship Tour events, and finished the season as World Champion. Felipe Pomar was also a world champion.

Cuisine

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Main article: Peruvian cuisine

Due to the rich variety and the harmony of its flavor and the food used,[28] Peruvian food is constantly winning internationally and the chefs often have international recognition and distinction.[29][30] One notable element is the constant new innovations and new dishes, especially those that incorporate the food found by experimentation. Each region maintains its rich cuisine by its food having a mix of colors and ingredients.[31]

Peru has a varied cuisine with ingredients like maize, tomato, potatoes, uchu or Ají (Capsicum pubescens), oca, ulluco, avocado, fruits such as chirimoya, lúcuma and pineapple, and animals like taruca (Hippocamelus antisensis), llama and guinea pig (called cuy). The combination of Inca and Spanish culinary traditions, resulted in new meals and ways of preparing them. The arrival of African, Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the 19th century also resulted in the development of Creole cuisine in the city of Lima, where the vast majority of these immigrants settled.

Some typical Peruvian dishes are ceviche (fish and shellfish marinated in citrus juice),[32] chupe de camarones (a soup made of shrimp known as cryphiops caementarius), anticuchos (cow's heart roasted en brochette), olluco con charqui (a casserole dish made of ulluco and charqui), pachamanca (meat, tubers and beans cooked in a stone oven), lomo saltado (meat fried lightly with tomato and onion, served with french fries and rice) that has a Chinese influence, and the picante de cuy (a casserole dish made of fried guinea pig with some spices). Peruvian food can be accompanied by typical drinks like the chicha de jora (a chicha made of tender corn dried by the sun). There are also chichas made of purple corn or peanuts.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Indigenous Culture | Multiple Ethnic & Linguistic groups | Northern Peru's Amazon & Andean Regions". Northern Peru & Amazonia Tours | Kuelap & Gocta | Amazon River Cruises & Lodges. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  2. ^ Belknap, Daniel F.; Sandweiss, Daniel H. (2014-06-03). "Effect of the Spanish Conquest on coastal change in Northwestern Peru". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (22): 7986–7989. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.7986B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1404568111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4050538. PMID 24843118.
  3. ^ "Cultural Tidbit: Afro-Peruvian Culture | Ecela Spanish". ecelaspanish.com. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  4. ^ Walhout, Hannah (April 17, 2019). "How Japanese Immigrants Shaped Peruvian Food". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  5. ^ "European Contact Overwhelms the Inca Empire: Francisco Pizarro's Conquest of Peru". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  6. ^ Martin, Gerald. "Literature, music and the visual arts, c. 1820–1870". In: Leslie Bethell (ed.), A cultural history of Latin America. Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1998, pp. 3–45, 39.
  7. ^ a b Gerald Martin, "Narrative since c. 2009", pp. 151–152, 178–179.
  8. ^ Jaime Concha, "Poetry, c. 1920–1950", pp. 250–253.
  9. ^ For example, Mariátegui, José Carlos, Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana, Ediciones Era, S.A. de C.V., 1979; originally published 1928.
  10. ^ Gerald Martin, "Narrative since c. 1920", pp. 186–188.
  11. ^ Lumbreras, L. E. (1974). Nuestro Perú.
  12. ^ Burger, R. L. (1992). Chavín and the origins of Andean civilization. University of Texas Press.
  13. ^ Menzel, D. (1964). The art of ancient Peru. Thames and Hudson.
  14. ^ Donnan, C. B. (1978). Moche art and iconography. University of Texas Press.
  15. ^ Isbell, W. H. (1997). The empire of the Inca. University of Chicago Press.
  16. ^ Romero, E. (1970). Historia del Perú.
  17. ^ Wiesse, P. (1971). Historia del arte peruano.
  18. ^ Tauro del Pino, A. (1981). Enciclopedia ilustrada del Perú.
  19. ^ Noticias, A. P. "Top 10: Los deportes más populares en Perú - AP Noticias". AP Noticias Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  20. ^ "¿Qué convirtió al fútbol en el deporte más popular? Esta publicación del Fondo Editorial PUCP lo explica". PuntoEdu PUCP. 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  21. ^ PERÚ, NOTICIAS EL COMERCIO (2020-01-24). "Así llegan los tres clubes grandes del fútbol peruano para el comienzo de la temporada 2020| Alianza Lima| Universitario | Cristal | Liga 1 2020 | DEPORTE-TOTAL". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  22. ^ DePeru.com. "Los tres Grandes del Fútbol Peruano". DePeru.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  23. ^ GrupoRPP (2020-12-19). "Tocó la gloria: hace 17 años Cienciano ganó la Copa Sudamericana". RPP (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  24. ^ "Cienciano campeón de la Recopa 2004 - CONMEBOL". www.conmebol.com (in European Spanish). 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  25. ^ de 2022, Por Joaquín Santiago Parra Jordán9 de Junio. "Cuando Cienciano logró la descomunal hazaña de salir campeón de la Copa Sudamericana 2003 y la Recopa 2004". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Comercio, El. "Selección de vóley de Seúl 88 | El Comercio Peru". El Comercio.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  27. ^ PERÚ, NOTICIAS EL COMERCIO (2021-07-23). "China campeón y Perú segundo en el mundial de vóley l Bicentenario | BICENTENARIO". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  28. ^ Conrecu (2020-06-18). "Tipos de Cocina Peruana". Con Recutecu.tv (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  29. ^ "Perú mejor destino culinario en el mundo 2021". Excelencias Gourmet (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  30. ^ PERÚ, Empresa Peruana de Servicios Editoriales S. A. EDITORA. "¡Excelente! Perú es distinguido como el mejor destino culinario líder en el mundo 2021". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  31. ^ "Por estas 7 razones la cocina peruana es reconocida en el mundo". institutpaulbocuse.usil.edu.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  32. ^ "El ceviche peruano y la historia que lo convirtió en Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación | Pisac Inn". pisacinn.com. Retrieved 2022-07-20.

Further reading

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