Representatives of various nationalities call this huge continent their home, many of whom have lived in North America for hundreds and thousands of years, while others have mastered new lands only in the XV-XVI centuries. The first settlers set foot on these lands following the expeditions of Columbus, and their ships came from Holland and England, Portugal and Spain. A mixture of diverse cultures helped to give birth to the amazing and colorful traditions of North America, which today are the object of close attention of travelers from all over the world.
Thanksgiving and the veneration of corn, wreaths on the front door for any reason and rectangular street grids, school buses and joint tea drinking in temples - the traditions of the North American continent can seem interesting to a person of absolutely any religion, level of social hierarchy, gender and age.
Six hundred names
Before the advent of Europeans, the traditions of America - North and South - were only the customs and way of life of its indigenous population. There were several million North American Indians alone, and the tribes uniting them - more than six hundred. Each tribe led its own economy, had its own rituals and holidays, various occupations and material wealth.
Modern Indians are almost completely assimilated into a multinational American society, but they try to preserve some of the traditions of North America inherited from their ancestors:
- Indian women prefer natural childbirth and try to minimize the help of doctors. Almost up to a year old, the children of the Indians are in the arms of the mother.
- The Kite Festival is a North American tradition that dates back to the Indians. Snakes symbolize dead children, but the holiday turns out to be very bright and positive.
- Initiation rites are held at the age of 13-15, when the child becomes a teenager. The Indian traditions of North America imply that from this moment a person begins to take responsibility for himself and build his life.
Diamonds are forever
This is the main advertising slogan of the famous DeBeers company, which controls the production and sale of diamonds and polished diamonds all over the world. Her success is largely based on the tradition of America (North mainly, but South in some countries) of giving a ring during an engagement. A potential groom in the United States and Canada cannot propose without handing over a diamond ring, and the size of the stone must be very impressive. In the States they laugh that "less than five carats is not love", but in every joke, as you know, there is only a grain of a joke …
