Cultural Essay: My Cultural Heritage

My cultural heritage is rather interesting to some people. My dad is Brazilian. His mother is an indigenous woman from the Desana tribe in Brazil. His father is Afro-Brazilian meaning he is Brazilian with African ancestry. My mom is Korean with her parents being Korean also. With this makes me Brazilian and Korean. I have learned about both cultures and I belong to those ethnic groups. I am also from Florida and I identify with being a Christian for the most part. For myself I am a southern multiracial male in the United States of America. Brazil is the largest country in South America. The people who inhabit there are called Brazilians but are made up of different ethnic backgrounds, much like the United States. There was a large diaspora

Though many citizens can speak Spanish almost all, except for the indigenous tribes, speak Brazilian Portuguese. Just like American English varies from British English, Brazilian Portuguese varies just a tad bit from European Portuguese. The main religion Brazilians practice is Roman Catholicism. Many others are Buddhist, protestant, and other forms of African religions. The drink of choice for a lot of Brazilians is coffee since it’s the number one export of the country with sugarcane being number 2. For most dishes, the cuisine of Brazil almost always includes rice, beans or both. Though foods vary by region they always are starch heavy with beans, rice, potato, and a vegetable. There is no national Brazilian cuisine dish like a lot of countries, but variety is the key that makes Brazil 's food great. Some dishes are very African influenced, some are Italian influenced, pasta is used a lot in dishes and many more influences from people’s ethnic backgrounds influence what they make, also where they live plays a huge role and what are in their dishes. It varies greatly and sole depends on the state you live in, the ethnic background, the geographic area, and finally solely depends on the family as well. As far as religious ceremonies we do adhere, or I, to a lot of catholic religions. Though my father is not a Catholic really but he has not left the church either. We celebrate Carnival of Brazil, which is a grand

My parents also met twice in Los Angeles and in New York City before dating. My mother before coming to America for medical school, she was almost a professional ballet dancer. She was accepted into the prestigious Beijing Ballet Dance Academy. She said she stopped because her mom had breast cancer and when she beat it she knew that she wanted to save lives so people could feel like she did when her mom got the news that she was cancer free. I found out through photos that my distance cousin is actually a singer in South Korea. My father admitted that my I was partly named after his first friend in America. He said without Willie being a friend and showing him the ropes and helping him get through college, he would 've got chewed up and spit out by American. Speaking of names a lot of people from Asia have American names because their Asian names are hard to pronounce with the American accent. My full name is William Juan-Carlos Armando Soo Hao Clarence Stinson, for most things it’s just English names that are used. Portuguese is used a lot in my home though I cannot speak it fluently. My mom teaches the family Korean to share her culture as well. My mom also knows Japanese and Chinese. My dad is fluent in Spanish also. Knowing these things makes me proud to be of Brazilian and Korean heritage. The juxtaposition in