Honduras Culture and Traditions

Customs and traditions

The opposition to the United States unites the Hondurans, while the country is strongly Americanized and most Hondurans have family in the United States. Also, the different indigenous peoples and the Garífuna people in the north are welded together in the nickname and love of the United States.

The Honduran nickname for themselves is catracho, which comes from General Florencio Xatruch who led the Honduran forces against the American mercenary William Walker’s invasion force in 1856. The nickname is used in daily speech by ordinary people on the street, in sports contexts and in politics.

• Countryaah: Overview of the capital city of Honduras, including information about its population, economy, geography, history and map.

An inheritance from the Spanish colonial era is the Honduran view of the family, which plays a central role throughout society. Sundays are often devoted to the family, with excursions, communal meals and church visits.

According to Abbreviationfinder, Hondurans are often family-friendly, but assume that all new acquaintances are addressed to you (usted). This is especially true in the countryside and with people who are older. It is difficult to determine when it is possible to switch to you (vos). The easiest thing is to wait until the person you are talking to passes to another person. Children can always be addressed with you. Eye contact is commonplace in every conversation.

How to greet

People greet by taking hand and saying buenos días (good day) or buenas noches (good evening), depending on the time. Men who greet women and women who greet each other also give each other a light cheek kiss. Men who are close to each other can also hug quickly. In the countryside, people are often less physical and a light handshake usually suffices, men and women. In the country, people also greet people they do not know when they meet on the street. They also happen to wish a tasty meal (buen provecho) to all guests when you enter a cafe or restaurant in smaller communities.

Gifts

Always bring a gift when you are home invited to someone. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but it can be enough to eat or drink.

Business meetings

Time is a relative concept. Do not expect meetings to start at the appointed time, but rather from a quarter or an hour later

Meals

Beans and tortillas are staple breakfast, lunch and dinner. It may in its simplicity constitute a meal, but most often also includes lightly salted white cheese, fried bananas, scrambled eggs, rice, root fruit salad and even cream which can almost be likened to a sour and thinner variety of sour cream. This is usually accompanied by chicken, but also with fried meat or coastal fish. Fruit drinks, soft drinks or weak coffee are served as drinks. American culture is also reminiscent of the fact that pizza and burgers are common dishes in especially the cities. On finer occasions, it can also be offered at local delicacies which are dried, at bread dipped in syrup, and nacatamales, a larger variety of classic tamales, that is, corn pulp boiled baked in banana palm leaves.

Dress

Men usually dress in jeans and shirt or t-shirt. In the countryside, cowboy hats are common. People with a little more money in the country also have cowboy boots. Women often dress in skirts and blouses, but pants are not uncommon. On more solemn occasions in the larger cities, wear a multi-suit or a stricter suit, and the men tie. Since the suit and tie can be warm in a tropical humid environment, a classic Guayabera is popular when men dress up. A guayabera is a short-sleeved shirt, slightly wider and longer than usual and often with embroidery. It is said to be originally from Cuba.

Traditions and holidays

Independence Day on September 15 is celebrated in memory of the Central American states’ liberation from Spain in 1821. It is a free day, but is celebrated outwardly by politicians with parades and speeches. On October 12, Columbus’s arrival in America is celebrated in 1492. In recent years, the day has increasingly become identified with political manifestations against colonialism and for independence and resistance.

According to Countryaah, Christmas and New Year are celebrated in the American way on December 25 and 31, respectively, with Christmas decorations, Christmas presents, finer meals, parties and fireworks.

Easter week is important and celebrated with religious parades. As it is a hot and dry time of the year, many also take this opportunity to visit the sea and the beach.

International Labor Day May 1 is vacant and often entails manifestations. Two days later, the arrival of spring is celebrated, on the day of the Cross. Hondurans dress cross with flowers and leaves. Shortly thereafter, the first rains usually fall and the rainy season begins.

2010

October

The President wants a new foundation

President Porfirio Lobo wants to appoint a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution. He invites to a dialogue with both Zelaya and FNRP, but both decline the invitation.

September

Honduras on US “top list”

Together with Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Honduras is listed by the United States on its list of the 20 countries in the world with the largest drug production and / or drug smuggling in the world.

Strike for raised minimum wages

The National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP), an umbrella group for organizations and parties supporting Zelaya, and many private sector employees are holding a one-day strike across the country to demand a minimum wage increase of 15 percent.

Increased violence after coup d’état

Violence in Honduras has increased dramatically since the coup. In September, a member of parliament from the Nationalist Party and the country’s Deputy Director General of the National Transportation Authority are murdered on the street in the city of La Ceiba. In a factory in the most violent city of San Pedro Sula, 18 of the employees are killed in a violent attack with firearms.

May

EU negotiations resume

The EU resumes negotiations with Central America on an association agreement. Negotiations were halted after the coup in Honduras.

Truth Commission is appointed

Lobo appoints a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein, with the task of investigating the events in connection with the 2009 coup.

March

Tax reform hopes to provide new loans

In its first budget, the Lobo government raises spending on health care, education and national security (police and defense). A tax reform is being implemented to cover the budget deficit. Among other things, a “solidarity tax” is introduced on high income from business operations, and taxes on tobacco, alcohol and new cars were increased. Through this reform, the government hopes to meet the demands of international lending institutions and thereby gain access to new loans. The United States resumes aid cooperation with Honduras, which was frozen in conjunction with the coup.

January

Lobo forms a unity government

Lobo takes up the post at the end of January. Despite his own majority in the National Assembly, he sets up a unity government together with the three small parties Christian Democratic PDC, Social Democratic Pinu and the Left Party UD. They are given a ministerial post. Zelaya is allowed out of the country and flies to the Dominican Republic. This is despite the fact that the National Assembly voted for a general amnesty against political crimes in connection with the coup, which also includes the militants who threw Zelaya out of the country.