Culture of Mexico

Mexico has changed rapidly during the 20th century. In many ways, contemporary life in its cities has become very similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe. Most Mexican villagers follow the older way of life more than the city people do. More than 75% of the people of Mexico live in cities of over 50,000 inhabitants. Large metropolitan areas include Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, andPuebla-Tlaxcala, while rural areas include Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Yucatán, Aguascalientes, Michoacan, and many more.

Language

Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. The overwhelming majority of Mexicans today speak Spanish, however, the government recognizes 62 indigenousAmerindian languages as national languages. Some Spanish vocabulary in Mexico has roots in the country's indigenous languages, which are spoken by approximately 6% of the population. Some indigenous Mexican words have even become common in the English language. For example, words such as tomato, chocolate, coyote, and avocado are Nahuatl in origin.

Religion

The Spanish arrival and colonization brought Roman Catholicism to the country, which became the main religion of Mexico. Today, 95% of the population are baptized Catholics, making the country the second largest Catholic nation in the world, after Brazil.

According to the Government's 2000 census, approximately 87 percent of respondents identified themselves as at least nominally Roman Catholic. Other religious groups for which the 2000 census provided estimates included evangelicals, with 1.71 percent of the population; other Protestant evangelical groups, 2.79 percent; members of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1.25 percent; "historical" Protestants, 0.71 percent; Seventh-day Adventists, 0.58 percent; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 0.25 percent; Jews, 0.05 percent; and other religions, 0.31 percent. Approximately 3.52 percent of respondents indicated "no religion," and 0.86 percent did not specify a religion.

This is only a few things that are a part of this wonderful culture. This culture is a little bit like my culture and I am a little Hispanic.