Since we are on the point of celebrating the "national holiday", I was just wondering how you feel about being Chilean. It seems to me that the feeling of national identity here is not as strong as it is in other Latin American countries. In fact, the original Chilean tribes have all but died out, and those that are left tend to be treated like second class citizens.
What is your opinion regarding this?
What do you know about our native people? Did you learn about them at school?
Do you identify with them in any way?
What Chilean characteristics do you or don't you have?
What things make you proud to be Chilean, and what things make you feel ashamed?
In your opinion, what is the so called "Chilean culture"?
Please answer the questions above and post one comment on the teacher's blog & minimum 2 classmates' after reading their post.
Well, I haven't tried to realize whether here, in Chile, the national feeling is as strong as in other latin american countries. Apart from that, it is true that our native tribes have almost disappeared, and that's shameful.
ReplyDeleteYes, I learnt a lot of things about our native tribes at school, I like them pretty much, I think they had a vision about the world quite different and prettier to ours, that I actually think, it is not a vision of the world. I love Onas, and Diaguitas. In fact at my home I used to have a "jarro pato", and about Onas, "el mito del hain"..., Those were beautiful customs and part of theier so beautiful understanding of the cosmos.
I do identify with them in some aspects. Obviously, it's impossible to identify with them in everything, because we live in different world. However, I have always had a closing relation with the planet, and all these tribes (onas, diaguitas, mapuches, yaganes, etc.), had also a closing relation with the earth, I love that, this is our home, and we have to look it after.
Chilean characteristics? well, to start with, I don't think there are too many chilean characteristics, because we have always copied things from outside. And the other things are only games such as rayuela, elevar volantin, etc.
The Chilean culture..., well, what else could I add?. I think that the Chilean culture could perfectly be summed up by naming some kind of things like cueca, empanada and chicha. What I actually mean is that the Chilean culture is nothing more than to be dancing, eating or drinking.
I don't think that we have something to celebrate, because our independence was on February and not in September. That is a lye that has helped in loosing our identity. We need to know when and what happend, really, before celebrating something. September 18th and 19th are just days taken as an excuse to have holidays, and to get relax for a while. We should be celebrating that we are Chilean everyday, not just in these days!
ReplyDeleteWhen I see the chilean flag in the houses on September, I think how cynical people can be. They just want to be chilean when there is celebration or when something bad/good happens. We, as chileans, started as a bad copycat of european influence, and we are still on the same page. Has Chile changed in this 200 years? Is the government a representation of democracy? Chile has no identity. Chileans don't know even know what they are saying when the say they are proud of being chilean.
ReplyDelete“Chilean culture”? What’s that? We are such a copy, for we wanted to emulate some “better” nation which in my opinion is worse than the culture we had before. Racism, discrimination, competitio... those are the words we added to our dictionary the day we let them enter here to change our lives with no return.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel nothing special about this celebration, but I prefer join to with the others.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Mapuches, well, it could be a bit selfish, but I cannot do anything now for them, so I enjoy the moment. For example, I love dancing cueca, this part is chilean about me.
I don't know if I feel proud of been a chilean, I am chilean because I born here.
To begin with, long time I don’t feel that I celebrate national holiday, I mean, in my case is a normal day. Generally, I don’t go to refreshment stand or meeting with other people to eat roast. Nowadays, I use my holidays to do all my readings or homework, share with my family and especially to rest.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel very touch with that date, I don't know why, maybe because I don't participate, and then I feel apart because Gobernment don't respect our opinion, all seems so false...
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, I see that I'm not the only one with this feeling, since when there are strikes we can see that people destroy hte public property without any regret, and that can means people don't feel part form this society, Nation, etc...
I do not agree with most of you, guys. I really like september 18th, I enjoy dancing cueca, and all the traditions that we have. I think that if we, as chileans, do not know anything about our traditions, it is not too late to learn something. I prefer be a positive person instead of a negative one.
ReplyDeleteI think that we are totaly wrong with the date, but I like september 18th, I think it is nice maybe is the only month that we really care about our country, I don't feel totally chilean, but I love my country it has a lot of diversity, I like to learn about different culture like diaguitas, onas and mapuches among others, but the sad side is that we only remember it for one month.I think we need to stop criticize and we need to enjoy our country and teach people to know about the real sense of our country and our national holiday.
ReplyDelete