COMPARATIVE ESSAY OF CULTURAL MANIFESTATIONS AND

GEOGRAPHY OF MEXICO, USA, ENGLAND, AND AUSTRALIA

Introduction
Around the world, there are many extraordinary cultures to know and all the characteristics
that represent those ones, even though it would be great to talk about all of them in order to
amplify our knowledge about the customs and traditions in other places, I wanted to focus
on just a few places where I think the culture is such as an amazing universe.
This essay is talking about four of the most diverse countries in the world, Mexico, United
States, England, and Australia. On the first hand, here is mentioned the famous activities,
traditions and the different things that stand out from these places. As well as the history
about them and the important facts that became those activities too know and
representative.
On the second hand, the geography of the countries is important to know and remember
because of the relations of the place or the continent where it is situated is that the cultures
have been constructed and can change.
The purpose of this is to get to know the several cultural manifestations in the four entities
and the place where they are located, and beyond it, I compare them depending on the way
the are performed, Likewise, the classification between them is to see in a better manner the
big differences or the similarities.
To start, is important to know what cultural manifestations are. They are all the expressions
and feelings that reflect the cultural and social identity and the values of the communities
which are communicated and transmitted from one generation to another, for example the
music, the gastronomy, the activities, arts, or sports practiced and the clothing.
Regardless of the location. All of them are important because they usually are the letter of
presentation of a community that must be valued and maintained. Through these it is
possible to make known a town and move a neighborhood or a city forward.
First, one of the most representative manifestation in a culture is the music. It is interesting
to realized that the genres, the rhythms and the dances change in a big way due to the
situation.
In Mexico, the genre that is most famous is The Mariachi, it is the sum of a cultural
revolution expressed through a group of musicians dressed in charro suits. This leads to
Australia, where Australians also has their traditional music, those of the indigenous
peoples, whose singing and ritual playing of the didjeridu, that is a drone instrument,
reenact the ancient traditions related to a mythological time called the Dreaming, the
Aboriginal conception of creation. Both of them go beyond music, they incorporate
elements of ancestral rituals.
But Australia, adopted a more European genre, the opera, which has become in one of the
most music listened in the country. Opera is regularly performed by the Royal Opera at
Covent Garden, London, by the English National Opera, and by other companies. A world-
renowned opera festival is held annually at Glyndebourne, and music festivals of many
other types thrive. England also has a number of orchestras, chamber groups, choruses, and
cathedral choirs (Harford Thomas & Kellner, 2002).
On the other side, there is United States, that the music is such a different thing. The
diversity styles of popular music emerged in the early 19 th century, when the American
music industry developed several new forms of music elements from blues and other genres
of American folk music. The genres that preserve in USA are the orchestral music, the
opera, and the chamber music. Like many other forms of American pop music, country
lends itself easily to a rock-and-roll beat, and country rock has been yet another successful
music merger.
Due to its diversity, popular music in the United States today challenges simple description.
The history of popular music since the 1970s is basically that of rock music, which has
grown to include hundreds of musical styles. New styles such as folk, salsa, new wave,
funk, reggae, heavy metal, acid rock, punk rock, rap, hip hop, acid jazz, techno, R&B, and
world music have developed (Germany, 2009).
In this aspect, to make a comparison, Mexico and Australia preserve the traditional music
and it is present in the principal festivities of the entities, either in parties, parades, shows or
concerts. It has the great side that people enjoy listening and playing this traditional music
and they should be proud that the ancestral rhythms still being alive. Meanwhile, England
and the USA have developed different kind of genres, most importantly, the positive side is
that Americans and British adapt to all the changes and the other countries too. The two
world powers have always been followed by the rest of the world.
Secondly, one of my favorite topics, the gastronomy. There is no doubt that the food is as
far the best thing to try when you visit a country. Gastronomy plays an intensely
important role in culture because not only food is significant to the tourist experience, but
moreover the fact, that gastronomy has become an important source of identity evolution in
postmodern cultures.
In the United States, the gastronomy corresponds to a very varied mix and some other
gastronomies, this is so because is a country created mainly by immigrants from different
countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and others. Above all, in this country the most known
food is the fast food because of the fast life the Americans live. And it has repercussed in
the feed of the other three, Mexico, Australia, and England. In this case, I would say that
USA dominate the way people eat and it is an enormous similarity between these entities.
Although is important to recognize that the other countries have their own traditional food
and is the best for at least the middle of their population.
Not only all of the three previous manifestations people enjoy, also the festivities in these
regions stand out. Mexico, United States, England, and Australia are full of festivities,
celebrations, shows and as always, they have been important in the history and evolution of
the countries.
In Mexico, the entire country takes to the streets to celebrate the Day of the Dead, the most
important holiday, since it celebrates throughout the country, each place with its different
traditions, all very rich and all with roots that are On November 1 and 2, cemeteries are
illuminated to honor our deceased. The altar of the dead is decorated with candles, incense,
corn, and paper. A marigold path guides our loved ones who have died on their return
home. We welcome them with the music, food, and drink that they liked in life because,
although they are no longer with us physically, their spirit never leaves us (Bárcenas,
2015).
In Australia, there are three highlighted dates during the year. On January 26 th, is the
Australian Day, on December 26th is the Boxing Day, national holiday takes places the day
after Christmas every year, and on April 4 th, they celebrate Easter in the Australian way,
there are a lot of festivals and events to celebrate Easter day throughout the country.
Talking about England, there are two interesting celebrations. The first one is the Cooper’s
Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake that is an annual event that takes place on the last Monday
in May. It consists of rolling a cheese down the hill. The participants have to run behind.
And the other one is the Guy Fawkes night, which is celebrated in a special way in London
with huge fires in which a doll representing Guy Fawkes is burned. It takes place on
November 5th.
The celebrations in the USA are Thanksgiving, the President’s Day, the Memorial Day, the
Independence Day and just American practice and celebrate these events. But, as we know,
the most known celebrations around the world are from USA and all people love some of
them and that’s the things that have in common these four countries. They are Christmas,
the special one in all the universe; Halloween, that now is practiced freely in many regions
but each one has adapted their own customs and traditions, but without losing the sense of
the celebration.
Now, the geography of these four countries. They are located in different continents and
practically, the are in four extremes in the world. Except for Mexico and the USA, the are
together.
The United States has six main regions: New England, consisting of the states of
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; the Mid-
Atlantic, comprising Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and
Washington, DC; the South, which spans from Virginia to Florida in the south and up to
central Texas in the west. Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia are also in the region; the
Midwest is a vast set of states that stretches west from Ohio to Nebraska, and includes
North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, and Wisconsin; the Southwest includes the states of Arizona, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, and Texas; the West is made up of Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming (Barone, 2000).
Next to the USA, is Mexico, a country with a great variety of climates from desert to snow
and has mountains, valleys, deserts, beaches, seas, lakes and archaeological ruins. Location
located in the middle of the American Continent, bordered to the North by the United States
and to the South by Guatemala and Belize, and is to the east by the Gulf of Mexico with the
Atlantic Ocean and to the West by the Pacific Ocean, with an area of 1, 972,550 km2. The
natural resources that abound are oil, copper, gold, silver, lead, wood, natural gas.
Plant and animal life differs sharply with Mexico's varied climate and topography. The
coastal plains are covered with a tropical rain forest, which merges into subtropical and
temperate growth as the plateau is ascended. In the northern states there is a dry steppe
vegetation, with desert flora over much of the area. Oaks and conifers are found in mixed
forest regions along the mountain slopes. The Yucatán Peninsula has a scrubby vegetation.
Among the wild animals are the armadillo, tapir, opossum, puma, jaguar, bear, and several
species of monkey, deer, and boar. Poisonous snakes and harmful insects are found. In the
coastal marshes, malarial mosquitoes pose a problem. The only remaining elephant seals in
the world are on Guadalupe Island west of Baja California (Barone, 2000).
Thirdly, Australia where the is a population of 24.99 million people. It is the sixth biggest
country in the world, and it is very known for the population of kangaroos, that is of 40
million of them. The government office regions in Australia are Western Australia,
Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, new South Wales & ACT, Tasmania, and
Victoria. Their most important cities here are thirteen: Darwin, Cairns, Mackay, Derby,
Alice Springs, Brisbane, Perth, Kalgoorlie, Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and
Hobart (Barone, 2000).
And the last one is England. It is the most representative and known of the four constituent
nations of the United Kingdom. Also, it is the part of the island of Great Britain that is
closest to Europe and has a number of islands much smaller that Great Britain, such as the
isles of Sicily and the Isle of Wight.
The flora and fauna in England are not too diverse. For the flora, most deeply rooted
species in the area are oak, elm, and beech. As for the fauna, we can find foxes, rabbits,
deer, and hedgehogs. However, birds are of great importance. Contrary of Mexico, British
enjoys a temperature climate. The rains are frequent and abundant throughout the year, but
compared to the rest of UK, England is sunnier than the rest, and the mottes months differ
between them (Barone, 2000).
Conclusion
To conclude, it is important to remember that each of the countries described in the essay
are diverse enough to compare them considering all the cultural aspects of the entities.
As we see, the thing in common that each country has is that the ancestral and old traditions
still persevering and by the time, those traditions and customs include the new next
generations and also it repercusses in the four places. For example, two countries adopt
traditions of the others two and likewise with the others. But what really matters in this case
is that the cultures still alive and manifested in the principal dates.
Then culture, which is made of our customs, our codes, norms, traditions, and different
artistic expressions. For this reason, it is also a legacy and serves as the basis in a society
because in it, teachings are transmitted and performed for the next generations.
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