detail from: KRK Art dizajn

WORLD CULTURES & FOLK CUSTOMS

SIMO JELACA, Ph.D.

FOREWORD

This book summarizes information about culture and customs of different nations. Noticeable differences in customs are among Christian, Islamic and Buddhist’s nations, although in all prevails intention for nice and greatest.

It will be too much to include every country, as there are similarities among many nations of the same or close nationalities. Characteristic are Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, or as well as Germany and Austria. The similar conclusion values for Latin nations, among themselves too.

Readers will find basic information about each country, such as its location and size, population and Ethnic Make-up, Religion, Climate, Language, Etiquettes and others.

This book can equally be used for travelers, either as tourists or business people, therefore everyone will find necessary information about Etiquette of people at their homes as well as at the business.

My intention was to find as much good information as possible. How much I have succeeded readers will judge it.

Author

CANADA

CULTURE AND FOLK CUSTOMS

Facts and Statistics

Location: Northern America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean on the east, North Pacific Ocean on the west, and the Arctic Ocean on the north, north of the conterminous US.

Size: 9,984.670 sq.km.

Capital: Ottawa population about 900.000

Climate: varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in North

Population: 35 million.

Capital: population 900.000

Ethnic Make-up: British Isles origin 28%, French origin 23%, other

European 15%, Amerindian 2%, other, mostly Asian, African, Arab

6%, mixed background 26%

Religions: Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3% (including

United Church 9.5%, Anglican 6.8%, Baptist 2.4%, Lutheran 2%),

other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%,

none 16%.

Government: constitutional monarchy that is also a parliamentary

democracy and a federation.

Language in Canada

A multitude of languages are spoken in Canada English and French are the preferred language ("home language", or language spoken most often in the home) of 67.1% and 21.5% of the population, respectively. English and French are recognised by the Constitution of Canada as "official languages," which means that all laws of the federal government are enacted in both English and French and that federal government services are required to be available in both languages.
The five most widely-spoken non-official languages are Chinese (the home language of 2.6% of Canadians), Punjabi (0.8%), Spanish (0.7%), Italian (0.6%), and Arabic (0.5%).

Cultural Diversity

Canada is culturally diverse. This goes back to the 1890s when it began inviting people from all over the world to settle in the country to help it develop and grow. Canadian immigration policy was historically open, welcoming and egalitarian in its philosophy. This has also manifested into the psyche of the nation where people are encouraged and to retain their cultural identities, traditions, languages and customs.

Individuals concerned with the group

Canadians are generally tolerant, polite and extremely community-oriented people. Although they are individualistic in terms of their basic cultural traits, they nevertheless place a great deal of emphasis on the individual's responsibility to the community. This is seen as giving balance and a good quality of life.

Regionalism

Most Canadians have a strong allegiance to their province or region, sometimes more so than to the country. There are some broad differences between regions, which can generally be summed up as follows:

• Atlantic Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland): The people are somewhat reserved and provincial, to the point that they are seen as old-fashioned.

• Ontario: This is the business hub and the people tend to be business-like and conservative.

• Western Canada (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan): The people are open, friendly and relaxed.

• British Columbia: The people are less conventional. This province is often viewed as the Canada of the future.

• Quebec: The French region has a distinct cultural identity. The people are extremely regionalist/independent.

• North: The people have a strong pioneer spirit.

Customs and Etiquette in Canada

Meeting and Greeting

The most common greeting is the handshake.

• It should be firm and accompanied by direct eye contact and a sincere smile.

• Wait until invited before using someone's first name although Canadians tend to move to a first-name basis rapidly.

• French Canadian friends may greet each other by lightly kissing on the cheeks (once on the left cheek and once on the right).

• If using French in Quebec, always use the formal pronoun "vous" (you) when speaking to someone and do not switch to the informal "tu" unless invited to do so.

Gift Giving

• In general, Canadians give gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

• If invited to someone's home for dinner, take a box of good chocolates, flowers or a bottle of wine.

• In Quebec, sending flowers in advance of the dinner party is proper protocol.

• In Quebec, if you give wine, make sure it is of the highest quality you can afford.

• Do not give white lilies as they are used at funerals.

• Do not give cash or money as a present.

• Gifts are usually opened when received.

Dining Etiquette

• Table manners are relatively relaxed and informal in Canada.

• Quebec does see a little more formality.

• Table manners are generally Continental, i.e. the fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right while eating.

• Wait to be shown to your seat.

• Do not begin eating until the hostess starts.

• Do not rest your elbows on the table.

• Feel free to refuse individual foods or drinks without offering an explanation.

• Leaving a small amount at the end of the meal is generally acceptable.

• In formal situations, the host gives the first toast. An honored guest should return the toast later in the meal. Women may give toasts.

Business Etiquette and Protocol
Meeting and Greeting

Canadian business people often begin relationships in a reserved manner; once people get to know one another it becomes friendly and informal.

Canadians appreciate politeness and expect others to adhere to the proper protocol for any given situation.

• Shake hands with everyone at the meeting upon arrival and departure.

• Maintain eye contact while shaking hands.

• Men may offer their hand to a woman without waiting for her to extend hers first.

• Honorific titles and surnames are usually not used.

• However, academic titles are important in Quebec and are used with the honorific Monsieur or Madame.

• Business cards are exchanged after the initial introduction.

• In Quebec, have one side of your business card translated into French. Hand the card so the French side faces the recipient.

• Examine any card you receive before putting it in your card case.

• Business Meetings

• Canadians begin meetings with a minimal amount of small talk although one should expect to spend a few minutes exchanging pleasantries and the like. In Quebec there may be more time spent on relationship-building. Meetings are generally well-organized and adhere to time schedules. They tend to be informal and relaxed in manner even if the subjects being discussed are serious. When meeting with Anglophones, meetings may seem more democratic as all participants will engage and contribute. Meetings with Francophone, due to a greater respect for hierarchy and position, may revolve more around the most senior attendees.
  Meetings in Canadian companies are used to review proposals, make plans, brain-storm and communicate decisions. Attendees will generally represent a variety of levels and experiences; all are expected to express opinions.

When presenting information, it is important to have facts and figures to substantiate claims and promises. Canadians are essentially rational and logical and thus they will not be convinced by emotions, passion or feelings.

Food and Economy, Food in Daily Life

The agricultural and ethnic richness of Canada has led to two distinctive characteristics of everyday food consumption. Canadians are "big eaters," with meat portions in particular dominating the Canadian meal. There are generally three regular meals in a given day. Breakfast, often large and important in rural areas, but less so in urban areas, is most often not eaten in a group. Lunch, at midday, is most often a snack in urban areas, but remains a substantial meal in rural centers. Dinner, the final formal meal of the day, is also the meal most likely to be eaten by a residential group as a whole, and it is the largest and the most socially important meal of the day. It is the meal most often used as a social event or to which invitations to non-family members are extended. Meat plays a key role in all three of the formal meals, but with increasing importance at breakfast and dinner. Dinner should have some special, and most often, large, meat portion as its key component. Pork at breakfast may appear as bacon, or sausage, in small portions. At lunch, pork may appear in a sandwich in the form of processed meats. For dinner, pork appears in large and more highly valued forms.

The other main feature of Canadian food is diversity. The complex ethnic landscape of Canada and the tendency of ethnic groups to retain a dual cultural orientation have meant that Canadian cuisine is quite diverse in its content, with many ethnic dishes seen as somehow quintessentially Canadian as well. Whether pizza or cabbage rolls or plum pudding, Canadian cuisine is best characterized as eclectic rather than consistent in content. There are a small number of food items that are considered distinctly Canadian, such as maple syrup, but overall the Canadian diet is drawn from a panoply of ethnic sources.

Military Activity

The Canadian military was engaged almost exclusively in peacekeeping or disaster relief, both nationally and internationally, during the last four decades of the twentieth century. While Canada maintains a small standing army, at least small for the size of the country physically, because it has no border disputes with its neighbors, the army's primary role has been to assist other countries in either disputes or in the event of emergencies. Canada provided conflict forces to joint warfare efforts during this period, but these engagements have been small and most often highly specialized. Canada has about twenty-five hundred military personnel deployed worldwide in support and emergency situations in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Africa. It was engaged in a major recruiting effort, as its numbers had declined steadily for nearly twenty years. What role the military will play in Canada in the coming decades remains unclear.

Marriage

Except for some ethnic sectors, marriages are freely chosen by the two partners. Marriage is restricted to the union of a man and a woman by statute, although this is currently under review by the country's courts. Official marriages, officiated by either religious authorities or by municipal clerks or judges

A second form of marriage, the de facto or common-law union, gives the couple almost all the same privileges and obligations as official marriage. Common-law union is a matter of informal declaration by the partners. In both cases, the marriage union involves mutuality of financial support, some degree of joint ownership of property, and joint responsibility for the care and support of children. Under Canadian law, all marriages must be monogamous

Marriages are most often celebrated privately between the two families involved. Engagement or marriage celebrations in smaller communities are often community events at which anyone may attend, usually for a small fee.

Domestic Unit

The most common domestic unit is the nuclear family, made up of both parents and their children. Almost all newlywed couples start their own family unit independent of their parents. Increases in the rate of divorce since the 1970s has also meant an increase in the number of single-parent households, most often headed by women.

Inheritance

Inheritance radiates outward from the nuclear family to more distant relatives, with members of the immediate nuclear family taking precedence. In rural communities and areas there is a tendency for male children to inherit land, while female children inherit more liquid forms of property. In most instances, spouses take precedence over children in matters of inheritance.

Child Rearing and Education

Child rearing is under the control of the natal family during the first several years of a child's life. While some monitoring of the treatment of very young children is done by the state, through child welfare organizations, for the most part children are cared for by their parents until the age of four or five, and parents have almost total control over how their children are cared for. Most child care responsibilities are carried out by the mother.

Girls and boys are socialized into conventional gender roles early, through differences in dress and through limitations or direct instruction in appropriate play activities. Children are required by law to attend school, or to be instructed at home under government guidelines, from the age of six to sixteen. In general, early childhood is a period of relative helplessness for the child, and during this period children are expected to be irresponsible and troublesome. Children under the age of twelve cannot be charged with criminal offenses, although their parents may be held financially responsible for their misdeeds. With increasing ethnic diversity, the potential for conflicts expands.

Higher Education

Canada has the highest per capita level of postsecondary education participation of any industrialized country. All of its universities are publicly funded institutions, although students do pay tuition fees. National and provincial support programs are in place to assist students in postsecondary education.

Medicine and Health Care

Basic health care is provided in all places by a tax funded system of hospitals and practitioners. Some specialist services require either complete or partial payment by the patient. There is also a system of non-biomedical Western practitioners, such as chiropractors and homeopaths, who have their own training institutions and professional organizations. Except in restricted cases, these practitioners do not participate in the publicly funded health service system.

Canada has a system of public health surveillance which monitors infectious diseases, the safety of food and drinking water, and other health risks and problems.

Support for the Arts

Most artists in Canada are self supporting and there are very few artists whose entire income is drawn from their artistic efforts. Several tax-funded programs, at all levels of government, do exist to provide financial assistance to artists of all types. The Governor General's Awards are presented each year to artists, writers, musicians, and other performers. There is a federal National Art Gallery, and most provinces also have one major tax-funded art gallery, usually in the provincial capital.

Literature

Canada does not have a single national literary tradition, participating instead in the wider English world of literature. While there are many internationally known writers from Canada, in general there is no single canon of Canadian literature. One exception is the province of Quebec, which has a longstanding "national" literature known for its social criticism and experimentation.

In recent decades, the number of published Canadian authors has increased dramatically, and Canadians as a community buy and read more books than in most other industrialized countries.

Performance Arts

Theater ranges from professional theaters, mostly in large cities, which offer mainstream entertainment such as musical theater, to small community theater companies which can be found throughout the country. Several specialist companies or events, such as the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the Shaw Festival, both in Ontario, take place each year and are international draws.

The city of Toronto has the distinction of hosting more theater openings per year than any other city in the English-speaking world.

It will be continued...

SHARE THIS PAGE ON: