Los dias festivos en Uruguay by Lance Moody

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Uruguay is a county located in South America and coasts the Atlantic Ocean. It neighbors the countries of Brazil and Argentina. The geographical landscape of the country consists of rolling plains/grasslands and a wide system of rivers. Uruguay's government is a constitutional republic that has a president at the head of state. Uruguay has a mixed economic system, consisting of a centralized economic planning and regulation by the government, but also a variety of private freedom. Their currency is the Uruguayan peso. It is also a member of the common market of the South.

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The country's flag has a sun in the upper right corner, and sky-blue stripes alternating white ones. Both the sun and blue stripes are strong symbols that represent their freedom and independence from Spain. Uruguay has a population of about 3.4 million people. The countries official language is, of course, Spanish. Its capital city is Montevideo located on the coast of the country. About 47% of the country is Roman Catholic, 15% is Protestant and many other religions practiced in smaller precents.

Dia de los Muertos

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In Uruguay and in South America, one of the biggest celebrations of the year is Día de los Muertos. On November 1st an 2nd, the people of Uruguay will celebrate the deceased in the form of making special foods, going to parades, and making alters. This celebration is very bright with a lot of color and a big part of the cerebration are skeletons and skulls. The celebration originated from the Aztecs who accepted/celebrated the dead instead of fearing it. While it was originally celebrated in the Gregorian month July and August, after the Spanish conquest it was moved to coincide with the christian holiday All Hallows Eve and the result of that created what we now what we call Day of the Dead.

Christmas, New Years Eve, and Epiphany

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The people of Uruguay do cerebrate Christmas just like us, but they do have a few differences to the holiday. First Christmas is also referred to as "Day of the Family" as parents do not have to work that day and the children are on summer break (Uruguay is located in the Southern Hemisphere which makes the seasons the opposite of ours). Instead of Santa the children of Uruguay believe in "Papa Noel" who brings them toys at the stroke of midnight. New Years is also celebrated in a similar manor, although many South American countries have a tradition of throwing a pan or glass of water out the window to rid themselves of bad luck from the previous year. Uruguay does celebrate this and they also, in the Capital City of Montevideo, have the Guerra de Sidra or the "The Cider War Festival" were beer, cider and water fights break out. Another holiday celebrated is Epiphany on January 6th. Epiphany is also referred to as Children's Day were a big family event takes place with present and a large meal, but it is also a Catholic holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus.

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Food & Music

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Traditional foods during Dia de los Muertos that are present across all celebrations include candy skulls, sugar skeletons, and the most important pan de muerto, or "bread of the dead." Pan de muerto is a special bread that is typically always offered to the deceased on ofrendas and graves and is meant to be shaped like bones with sugar dusted on top. During the Christmas traditional foods include pan dulce (similar to fruitcake), Turron (honey, sugar, egg white and some sort of nut confection), cordero (lamb), and famous Uruguay Asado (BBQ, chorisos & vaca). For music during the holiday, there isn't much christmas music, some family centered songs, but rather they just listen to traditional Uruguanian music like tango or candombe. To celebrate the New Years, people in Uruguay will eat lechon, which is a cold roasted suckling pig, and for music the people of Uruguay will listen and dance to tango. Some will go to a big tango dance at 8pm were famous tango dancers will participate with everyone in a traditional dance.

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A traditional food eaten on Epiphany is "Rosca de Reyes" made with a sweet, buttery dough.

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1301288133 — 2023-12-06 05:13:35 UTC

Uruguay has some pretty unique traditions for each of these holidays though they also have some that are celebrated similarly to how I celebrate them. Although I do not celebrate Dia de los muertos, they have many cool traditions. It is not a holiday celebrated in my family though I do celebrate Halloween, although similar in the sense of dressing up and the need for skeletons, it doesn't have the same meaning as Dia de los muertos. During Christmas, I'll celebrate by decorating the house with a lot of charismas decorations, listening to Christmas music and enjoying some hot chocolate while dressed in warm clothing. In Uruguay, they also decarate the house with christmas decorations but don't enjoy the cold weather as we typically do so to celebrate they will go out to the beach and have a drink like pina colada or even barbequing. One tradition that is different on Christmas in Uruguay is setting off fireworks at midnight as a part of celebrating the holiday. New Years is all around pretty similar compared to how I celebrate, throwing a party, enjoying the night with friends/family, and a countdown. A tradition I don't do although I have tried once, is the eating of twelve grapes to symbolize good luck for the next twelve months. Also their tradition of throwing water, cider or beer out the window as a good luck charm, or even participating in the "Cider War" is a unique tradition.

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The last holiday Epiphany or "Children's Day" is something that I do not celebrate so there is not much to compare with how I celebrate to Uruguay. It does seem like a very nice holiday, spending time with family and a large feast to celebrate your religion.