Mexicans have numerous festivals across the year. These festivals vary from one season to another depending on cultural festivities. Mexicans usually celebrate various festivals by displaying their culture, which is rich in art, music, and food. In Mexico, these festivals attract many tourists from various parts of the world.
In a bid to exhibit their culture, Mexicans have started creating festivals in different cities across the world. People who attend Mexican festivals enjoy food, art, and music, which depict the Mexican culture. In this view, this essay examines Mexican festival at Milwaukee with view of analyzing unique cultural elements.
To examine the Mexican culture, my friend and I attended the Mexican festival at Milwaukee. The Mexican festival at Milwaukee was a festival that entailed celebrations in terms of music, art, food, and fun.
Foreigners who attended the festival experienced a great fun, which made them appreciate the Mexican culture. According to Nyholm (2013), Mexican festivals provide an opportunity for people from diverse cultural backgrounds to experience and appreciate the culture of Mexicans. As we enjoyed the festival, my friend and I spent the whole day at Milwaukee.
At the festival, we noticed that Mexican food was unique and appealing to the sight. The dominant food was the Mexican cuisine, which comprised of tomatoes, vanilla, squashes, corn, and conquistadors.
What made Mexican cuisine unique from the American cuisine was the complexity of ingredients and method of preparation. Olver (2000) argues that food such as nachos, enchiladas, tortillas, tacos, nachos, and chimichangas are common in Mexican festivals. The arrangement of these kinds of food appealed to the sight and stimulated our appetite.
The interaction of people at the festival was very lively as they formed groups around tables while taking different types of food and drinks. In addition to Mexican food, people enjoyed taking drinks such as tequila and wines. Tequila is an alcoholic drink that Mexicans make from agave through the process of fermentation (Olver, 2000).
As people interacted when eating and drinking, they listened to Mexican music in the background, which was lively and soothing. Owing to the romantic nature of the Mexican music, most of the couples who attended festivals were dressed in fancy costumes that portrayed the festival as a romantic event (Vazquez, 2013). Therefore, the nature of costumes and music played reflected the Mexican culture.
The experience of attending the Mexican festival stretched my cultural perception as I discovered that Mexicans have a rich culture in terms of food, art, and music. During the festival, I learned that Mexicans cook their food religiously according to cultural needs of the festival.
Moreover, I learned that Mexican dress according to the occasion. In this case, the festival was a social event aimed at portraying the Mexican culture through food, art, and music. Therefore, the experience and observation of the Mexican festival did enhance my intercultural communication because I have known that food, art, and music have cultural elements that reflect norms and traditions of a given culture.
References
Nyholm, C. (2013). Mexican Fiesta Summerfest Grounds Milwaukee, WI. Web.
Olver, L. (2000). Food Timeline: Mexican & Tex Mex Foods. Web.
Vazquez, L. (2013). Mexican Fiesta. Web.