Venezuela
National Geographic
Fun Facts
Tons of Facts
Cecilia and Suhina- Holidays and Traditions, Tourist Attractions
The
Joropo: As the national
dance of Venezuela it is performed throughout the country. Lively, merry and
syncopated, it is Spanish in origin and Venezuelan in feeling. It is a dance for
couples and has as many as thirty-six variants of the basic steps. The musical
accompaniment is provided by the cuatro, maracas and counter pointed by a
harp.
Red Devils of
Yare: The red dancing devils of
Yare begin their traditional battle against the forces of righteousness on
Corpus Christi day, and it is one of the most unique and colorful ceremonies of
the Christian World. The outcome of the battle is also traditional, virtue will
triumph but not until after a full day of strenuous opposition on the part of
Satan’s henchmen.
Christmas:
In Venezuela, Christmas is celebrated
with a number of religious and traditional customs. As a predominantly Catholic country,
Christmas festivities celebrate the birth of the child Jesus. The religious celebrations begin on the
16th of December with masses said every morning until December
24th, when the religious service is held at midnight (Misa de
Gallo).
The main celebration takes place on Christmas Eve,
Noche Buena, as it is called in Spanish.
Families get together to enjoy the traditional holiday meal: hallacas, pan de jamón, dulce de
lechoza. The pan de jamón is a long
bread filled with cooked ham and raisins. The dulce de lechoza is a dessert made of
green papaya and brown sugar, slowly cooked for hours and served cold.
Many homes put up a Christmas tree but the most
authentic Venezuelan custom is to display a nacimiento (Nativity scene). A more sophisticated nacimiento is the
pesebre. This represents an entire
region with mountains, hills, plains and valleys. The central point is a replica of the manger
at Bethlehem. The structure is a
framework covered with canvas and painted accordingly. Often, the pesebre becomes a real work of
art.
On December 25 children awake to find their gifts
around the Nacimiento or the Christmas tree.
Tradition has it that it is the Child Jesus who brings gifts to the
Venezuelan children instead of Santa Claus, as is it the belief in the United
States,
Music plays an important role in the
celebrations. The traditional songs of
this period are called aguinaldos. In
the old days the aguinalderos (singers of aguinaldos) would go from home to home
singing their songs and playing traditional instruments such as the cuatro (a
small, four strings guitar), the maracas (rattle) and the furruco (a small,
elongated drum with a wooden stick in the middle. The movement of the stick slightly indented
on the drums leather is what produces the sound).
The Christmas festivities come to an official
closing on January 6, the Day of the Reyes Magos (the three wise kings who came
to visit Mary and the infant Jesus), when children again receive toys and
candies. Christmas is, above all, the
main holiday during which Venezuelan families get together and rejoice.
Katey- Art and Music
Art
Venezuela is a country of notable artists and great
writers, some of whom are word renowned.
Venezuela’s folk music and dances have been greatly
influenced by the costumes, traditions and religious beliefs of the three races
which constitute Venezuela’s population as a whole: White, Indian and
Black.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Indians
used carved bones flutes, clay whistles, seashell trumpets and maracas. During
the Spanish colonization and the arrival of the African slaves, several
instruments were incorporated into the popular music tradition such as cuatro (a
four string small guitar), violin, guitar and drums.
Riya- Weather and Climate
Because of its proximity to the Equator, Venezuela experiences few climatic variations. There are really only two seasons: dry and wet. The dry season lasts from December to April, the wet one from May to November. The average temperature is about 27C, but cooler temperatures prevail at higher elevations.
Maximum temperature is 95º F. The average temperature in Caracas the
capital is 74.3º F.
Lawrence- Animals and Plants
Spectacled bears are medium-sized by bear standards, but they are the second-largest land mammals in South America.
The is a small and stocky dog that looks like a terrier. also known as the Little Spotted Cat. The , also known as the Long Tailed Spotted Cat.
Plants
National tree-
National flower-
Anibal and Stan- Natural Resources and Landforms, Geography
Geography
Venezuela lies on the northern coast of South America, where the continent meets the Caribbean Sea, between latitudes 0º 38’ and 12º 13’ N, and longitudes 59º 47’ and 73º 25’ W. Its territory covers 916,490 square kilometers, or 353,857 square miles, about the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. Besides the Atlantic and the Caribbean, it is bordered on the West by Colombia, and on the South by Brazil and Guyana. Topographically, Venezuela includes regions as diverse as the snowcapped peaks of the Andes, and the vast central plains, white sand beaches and transparent waters, dry and desert-like zones and ancient tablelands called Tepuis, emerging from the dense green of the jungles of the south.
In the west:
The , 400km long and 50-100km wide, begin in Barquisimeto and run through the states of Trujillo, Mérida and Táchira before reaching the Colombian border.
a small called "The Portable City" for having changed its location several times, is the door to the Andean region.
In the east:
The consist of beaches, interesting towns and villages.
In the south-east is the , with its strange flat-topped mountains. The Gran Sabana is the larger part of the immense . Situated on the Guayana Plateau, to the South East of Venezuela, it is one of the oldest geological rock formations in the world.
Highest Waterfall:
Angel, Venezuela: 979 m (3,211 ft)
In the north:
White-sand beaches fringed with coconut palms line the Caribbean coast.
In Venezuela
you will find:
The highest waterfall in the world: the Angel Fall (980 meters)
The largest lake in Latin America: Lake Maracaibo
One of the oldest geological formations: Guayana’s
Massif
The third biggest river in South America: the Orinoco
River
43 national parks and 21 natural monuments
Mining and Energy
The Guayana area in southeastern Venezuela has
become the powerhouse behind Venezuela’s drive to industrialize and
diversify its economy away from oil dependency.
The development of this region is in the hands of
the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), an autonomous
state-owned entity created in 19660. CVG
oversees the mining operations for iron ore, bauxite, gold, zinc and other
minerals, as well as the production of steel, primarily aluminum, electricity
and cement in a region that covers almost half of Venezuela.
CVG is Venezuela’s second largest industrial group,
after the oil sector in 1989, CVG exports, mostly aluminum, steel and iron ore,
totaled 1.1 billion dollars.
Aluminum is the second largest export earner after
petroleum and will assume even greater importance in upcoming years. CVG anticipates increasing production from
the current output of 600,000 metric tons to two million tons annually by the
year 2000.
CVG-affiliates Alcasa and Venalum do most of
Venezuela’s processing. Venalum in the
largest primary aluminum producer in the western world.
Aluminum production using imported raw materials
began in 1968. In 1977, bauxite, the key
raw material, was found. Bauxiven mines
bauxite from the Pijiguaos region in south-central Venezuela, while the
subsidiary Interalúmina prepares de bauxite to be processed by Alcasa and
Venalum. Iron and Steel
activities in Guayana are run by the three CVG’s companies.
Venezuela’s gold potential is in excess of 8,000
tons, 5,000 of which are at surface level, suitable for open cut mining. This
potential represents about 12% of the world’s proven reserves.
CVG companies are in charge of gold development,
research for joint ventures in large-scale projects and organization of the
15,000 active prospectors in the region who are responsible for undeclared gold
production estimated to be double the declares production figures.
Venezuela’s impressive hydroelectric capacity is
based in Guayana. The enormous Guri Dam
supplies 70% of Venezuela’s electricity and saves 3000,000 barrels of oil a
day.
Jeremy- Maps, Flag, Money
The Flag
The Venezuelan flag is rectangular, with three horizontal
stripes of equal width: yellow, blue, and red. Yellow stands for the richness of
the Venezuelan earth. Blue, for the immense sea separating Venezuela from Spain.
Red, for the blood that was spilled in the battles for independence.
In the center of the blue stripe there are eight stars in the form
of an arc, representing the eigth original provinces that formed the Capitania
General of Venezuela declaring their independence on July 5, 1811. The Coat of
Arms has been added to the upper left corner of the flag.
Coat of Arms
The Coat of Arms of Venezuela is partitioned into three
sections: yellow, blue, and red. The right section is red and shows a sheaf of
wheat, symbolizing the union of the Venezuelan States. The left section is
yellow with two crossed swords and two flags entwined by a laurel wreath, as an
emblem of victory; the third section occupying the entire lower half of the
emblem, contains an indomitable white horse, the symbol of liberty and
independence.
The cornucopias and a ribbon with the colors of the flag uniting
the laurel and olive branches bears the following inscription “República
Bolivariana de Venezuela; Independencia, 19 de abril de 1810; Federación, 20 de
febrero de 1859.”
THE
CAPITAL
CARACAS
A beautiful valley, as bountiful as it is merry and
as delectable as it is delightful, was how, 300 years ago, Jose Oviedo y Baños
described the place where Diego de Losada founded Caracas on July 25, 1567.
Over the years the small town surrounded by the
mountains and foothills, which were the homeland of natives like the Mariches,
the Tarmas, and the Teques, became the heart of the entire territory that was
eventually to be known as Venezuela.
Today with 5 million inhabitants in the small valley where the
first houses were put up 426 years ago, Caracas has always been a mute witness
to its progress and achievements in the imposing bulk of its guardian, protector
and defender El Avila, the eternal symbol of its greatness and misery. The city cannot have better identification
than the stark green slopes of the mountain that separates the city from the
Caribbean Sea.
At the foot of its steepest slopes, nearly two
centuries ago, was born the greatest of its children: Simón Bolívar, The
Liberator of America, the father and protector of five countries. Also from its womb sprang Andrés Bello, who
in the last century became America’s leading intellectual light, and Francisco
de Miranda, a hero of the French Revolution and a precursor of the New World
independence.
In Caracas is the seat of power in the country, the
center of Venezuelas’s cultural advances, the progress and development of a
young nation striving to tame the million square kilometers, which from the
Amazons to the Caribbean constitute the inalienable birthright of all its
inhabitants.
Caracas today is a cosmopolitan city with its share of
problems and achievements, whose shifting patterns have over the past forty
years made it a metropolis of tall buildings and verdant residential areas which
rank it among one of the major Latin American capitals.Blank map of Venezuela
Varsha- Clothing and Daily Life
Jobs-
Living- Country Life and City Life
Clothing
In cities, men wear lightweight suits or shirts and trousers that suit Venezuela's climate. Women are usually very fashion-conscious and dress in popular Western styles.
Ethnic Groups
There are about 24 highly diverse indigenous groups, comprising some 532,750 people, scattered throughout the country. The main Indian communities include the Guajiro, north of Maracaibo; the Piaroa, Guajibo, Yekuana and Yanomami, in the Amazon; the Warao, in the Delta del Orinoco; and the Pemon, in southeastern Guyana.
Culture
Venezuela is a proud and patriotic country. Its victorious role in the War of Independence is a source of tremendous national pride and Venezuelans celebrate their independence champion Simon Bolivar as one of the continent’s greatest heroes: you won’t find a town without a Plaza Bolivar or a school without his portrait on the wall.
Almost as strong as Venezuelan’s pride in their history, is their pride in the beauty of their women, who have repeatedly won all the major international beauty contests. Beauty and glamour are extremely important and the pursuit of these has created a large industry.
Baseball is also a source of pride for sports aficionados and sports go hand in hand with the national drinks of rum and beer.
The climate and restricted space of the majority of Venezuelan homes invites the outdoor life. Consequently, much of family life takes place outside the home: in front of the house, in the street, in a bar or at the market. Personal affairs are discussed loudly and personal space is disregarded.
Venezuelans are a courteous and hospitable people, full of life and warmth. They are open and not shy about talking to strangers. This is a party nation, renowned for the energy and joie de vivre of its inhabitants.
But recent economic and political problems have left their scars. Long simmering resentments between the classes have bubbled to the surface and political upheavals are driving increasing numbers of the young and educated away from their families to set up their lives abroad, breaking up the traditionally close families.
Traditional Venezuelan Clothing and Modern Beauty Standards
Women's traditional outfits consist of long dresses with full, flowing skirts. The material is usually a floral print, reflective of the Venezuela's Spanish and Caribbean influence. The dresses, or blouses if a skirt-and-blouse combination is selected, are often worn off the shoulder or have one sleeve off the shoulder [source: Ahsan]. The outfits frequently feature ruffles, and women usually put flowers in their hair.Tribal people have different traditional outfits, of course. Some tribal women favor shorter skirts, beads and cropped tops, for example, while the men have some variation on campesino (native Latin American who lives in a rural area) attire [source: Ahsan]. In general, though, Western styles predominate today for formal occasions.
While Venezuelans are definitely attuned to fashion, they're even more focused on physical beauty and overall appearance. For example, it's very important to Venezuelans that their contestants either win or place highly in the annual Miss World and Miss Universe pageants, and they have. Venezuelan women, in an amazing feat, have won the Miss Universe competition six times, a number only exceeded by the U.S., which has a far bigger population (312 million compared to Venezuela's 28 million) [source: Grainger]. And while the country traditionally has focused on women's beauty, an annual male beauty contest now takes place: Mr. Venezuela.
Venezuela has summer-like temperatures throughout the year because of it’s location in the tropics. This is the reason that they are informal in their style of clothing especially on weekends. They usually wear T-shirts, shorts, jeans, and tennis shoes. The only thing different is they wear big robe-like cloaks. The more wealthy wear golden
robes though.
A traditional Venezuelan dress
Another traditional dressPeople wear the traditional clothing on special holidays.
The Venezuelan Military
Lukas- History
Thereafter Venezuela was a Spanish colony for
over three centuries until the independence movements sweeping the Americas
encouraged Venezuela to initiate its struggle for independence from Spain in
1810.
During the years of Spanish rule, Venezuela
did not attain the importance of the major viceroyalties centered elsewhere on
the continent.
Accordingly, during this period the
population of Venezuela remained comparatively small with an economy based on a
few agricultural crops and a minimum of commercial
activities.
Following the victorious struggle for
independence under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, Venezuela became part of the
historical confederation known as the Gran Colombia between 1820 and 1830. In the latter year Venezuela withdrew from
the confederation forming the present Republic of
Venezuela.
The reminder of the 19th century
and the early part of the 20th century was filled by internecine
warfare, which actually had the effect of decreasing the total population during
this century.
The economy in this period was based on
exports of cocoa, coffee and sugar, plus cattle raising and commercial
activity. It was only with the long,
twenty seven year dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez (1908-1935) that the
country was finally under a central government.
It was also under Gómez that the economy experienced a dramatic change
and the modern Venezuela economy began to emerge.
In the early years of the 20th
Century, oil became the economy’s basic commodity as well as a strong stimulus
to development.
The oil and mining industries became the
largest contributors to the gross national product and the main sources of
foreign exchange. Manufacturing and a
more diversified agricultural output have also become significant as economic
development has allowed for these sectors’ increased share of the
economy.
The first concessions were granted in the
1910’s with the first substantial quantities of oil being exported in the early
1920’s.
By 1982, petroleum exports accounted for 90%
of foreign exchange earnings, which is still the case at
present.
The Gómez dictatorship was followed by three
more governments and early attempts at democratization resulting, in 1948, in
the first direct popular election of the Venezuelan president Rómulo
Gallegos.
The Gallegos government was short-lived and
overthrown later that year by a military coup.
This led to the dictatorial regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, until 1958,
when his government was toppled by a popular clamor for a democratic
system.
In elections held later that year the Social
Democrat (AD) party candidate, Rómulo Betancourt, was elected. It was during
Betancourt’s administration that programs to stimulate industrialization and the
first efforts for development planning were initiated.
His administration enacted far reaching
programs of agrarian reform and of improvement of the standards of living,
particularly in the fields of health and education, that were to become the
basis for the transformation of Venezuela.
Betancourt’s most important contribution,
however, was to consolidate the foundations of democracy in Venezuela. Since Betancourt’s election, and up to the
present, Venezuela’s political process has been stable and all successive
administrations have been the product of free and democratic
elections.
The Betancourt government was followed by the
administration of Raúl Leoni, also a social democrat, until 1968 when the
Christian Democrat (Copei party) Rafael Caldera was elected to office. In 1974 the government shifted back to the AD
party with the inauguration of Carlos Andrés Pérez, who in turn was succeeded in
1979 by the Copei candidate Luis Herrera Campíns.
In 1983 the Social Democrats again returned
to office and Jaime Lusinchi was elected President for the period
1984-1989.
In 1989, Carlos Andrés Pérez was again sworn
into office. His term expired in
1994. Rafael Caldera, won the 1994-1999
elections supported by a coalition of 17 political
parties.
Hugo Chávez was inaugurated on February 2,
1999. His Presidential mandate was
reconfirmed through elections that took place on July 30, 2000 for a period of
six years.
Venezuela has now enjoyed almost 50 years of
free democratic government.
Vivek- Sports
Baseball: The most popular game in Venezuela. Any town of fair size has its own stadium and
team, which often plays with those of neighboring towns. From these humble teams have come out many of
the Venezuelan players who have done remarkably well in the United States major
leagues. The baseball season runs from
the middle of October to the middle of February.
Football: Soccer was played in Venezuela long before baseball
became the national game. It is still
played but not to the extent of baseball.
American football is unknown in the country.
Water
Sports: With 1,750 miles of coastline on the warm
Caribbean, it is naturally expected that all water sports-swimming, fishing,
water skiing, skin diving and so on are popular.
Fishing: Deep-sea fishing off the Venezuelan coast is about
the best anywhere. An annual marlin
tournament is held here; in fact, a world record was caught in these waters a
few years ago.
On this subject, Al Mc Ready writes in the
Oregonian, from Portland Oregon: “The Venezuelan shore along the warm, blue
Caribbean has some of the loveliest unspoiled palm-fringed white sand beaches in
the world. 
And sports fisherman declare the Venezuelan
billfish are the world’s biggest, fight ingest and most plentiful.
The annual marlin tournament in September is
gaining international fame among deep sea trollers, taking the play away from
the older and better-known Hawaiian billfish competition.”
Golf: There are golf courses in several cities in the
country. In Caracas and its surroundings
alone there are 4-18 hole golf courses.
Despite its variety, Venezuelan food has a marked
Indian influence. Our national bread is
the arepa, prepared with corn flour.
At Christmas, all over Venezuela, a special and
typical food is cooked in every house; it is called hallaca. The hallaca is a corn-meal pie stuffed with
pork or chicken, olives and raisins and wrapped in plantain leaves and
boiled. This kind of banana (plátano)
is used often in our kitchen and is the base for many national food
specialties.
The variety of fruits in Venezuela is very rich,
and being a tropical country the abundance and beauty are such that their
display in our markets makes them look picturesque and exotic.
AREPAS
The arepa is perhaps the most popular food in
Venezuela. It is eaten hot as a kind of
bread to accompany a meal, or by itself, stuffed with meat, bologna, cheese,
scrambled eggs, or anything one wishes.
It is old days, arepas were prepared from freshly husked and ground corn,
but today, the pre-cooked white corn flour has eliminated this lengthy
process.
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups of corn flour
2 ½ cups of warm water
Preparation:
TEQUEÑOS
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water (approx.)
1 lb. Soft white cheese
1heaping tablespoon butter
2 eggs yolks
1 teaspoon sugar
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients except the cheese, using
only enough water to make a rather soft dough.
Set aside for a few minutes. Cut
the cheese into strips of ½ inch wide by 2 ½ inches long. Divide dough into four parts. Roll each part as thin as possible, but into
½ inch strips and wind around the cheese until the latter become completely
covered. Fry in hot deep oil until
golden brown. Serve as once. Makes about 60.
CACHAPAS DE
BUDARE
Ingredients:
4 cups of tender corn kernels (canned corn may be
used)
3 teaspoons of salt
¾ to 1 cup of water (depending on how tender the
corn is)
¾ cup of sugar
Preparation:
CHEESE BALLS
Ingredients:
¼ cup cornstarch (optional)
6 or 8 eggs or egg whites
2 lbs. Grated white cheese (llanero)
A little milk is necessary
Preparation:
Blend ingredients into a stiff dough using
milk. Shape into small balls by rolling
between the palms of hands. Fry in hot,
deep fat oil until the balls rise and become of a brown color. Serve at once on toothpicks. Makes 40 to 50.
Sienna- Famous People and Fun Facts
Christopher Columbus first sighted Venezuela during histhird voyage to the New World.
Fun Facts
More Fun Facts
Famous People
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Very interesting post. Do you think that someone from a translation agency could translate the names of the meals you mention above? Like what does TEQUEÑOS mean?
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