Panama



Culture Name

Panamanian

Alternative Names

Panameño (Spanish)

Orientation

Identification. The Republic of Panama is a former Spanish colony in Central America with a mixed population of Creoles, mestizos, European immigrants, Africans, and indigenous Indians.

Location and Geography. The country is a natural land bridge connecting the South American continent with Central America. The isthmus runs east-west in the form of an inverted "S." Low mountains run through most of the country, leaving a gap in the center that is nearly at sea level. The Pacific coastline, with the Azuero Peninsula jutting south to define the Gulf of Panama, is longer than the Atlantic coastline. The area of the country is 25,590 square miles (74,046 square kilometers).

Demography. In 2000, Panama had approximately 2.816 million inhabitants, 700,000 of whom lived in Panama City, with another 300,000 in the immediate suburbs. The urban elite is primarily Creole, mostly of Spanish descent. There are also populations of Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Jewish origins. There is a longtime Chinese community, and a small Hindu community lives in the capital, Panama City. The largest demographic group is the interioranos ("interior people"), who are classified as "Hispano-Indians." This group is largely mestizo (mixed European and native American), and its members consider themselves the "real Panamanians." Some interioranos grade imperceptibly into an acculturated native American population known pejoratively as cholos, who refer to themselves as naturales ("natives"). Together, these two groups constitute 70 percent of the population. There are four officially recognized Indian ethnic groups (the Kuna, Guaymi or Ngawbe, Embera, and Waunan), which number fewer than 200,000. People of African descent account for 15 percent of the population. These "Afro-colonials" descend from slaves who were imported in colonial times. They speak Spanish and are Roman Catholic. The "Afro-Antillean" group descends from Caribbean residents who came to work on the construction of the Panama canal. They speak English, French, or an English patois at home and are mostly Protestant.

Linguistic Affiliation. The official language is Spanish, but English is used widely in business, especially banking and tourism, and by some people of African descent.

Symbolism. Some coins bear the image of Urraca, an Indian chief who resisted the Spanish conquests, but most coins depict Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean.

History and Ethnic Relations

Emergence of the Nation. Panama became an autonomous nation because of its function as the custodian of the transisthmus shipping route—the "path between the seas." It gained independence in 1903 as part of an American-sponsored revolt against Colombia that led to the signing of a treaty granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal.

The Spanish discovered and conquered Panama between 1502 and 1519. At that time, it was referred to as the Castilla de Oro, a source of gold and potential converts. From 1519 through 1538, the area that is now Panama was a base for soldiers sent to conquer the Andean civilizations in South America. After 1538, it was used as a land route to Spain's South American colonies and a transshipment point for Andean gold. From 1568 to 1671 there was series of pirate raids, and in 1671 Panama City was sacked by buccaneers under the command

Panama
Panama
of Sir Henry Morgan. Local traders engaged in smuggling until Spain shifted the official gold route to Cape Horn, and the area entered a period of commercial decline.

After independence from Spain and union with Colombia in 1821, the isthmus again became an important transit route. Slavery was abolished in 1852. The United States completed a railroad across the area in 1855 to expedite movement to the gold fields in California. After failing to build a sea-level canal in the 1880s, the French sold their concession to the United States, which conspired with the elite in Panama City to declare independence when they could not obtain a favorable treaty from Colombia.

From 1903 to 1978, the United States controlled the Canal Zone, a five-mile strip on both sides of the canal. Residents of that area were called "Zonians" and remained American citizens even after three generations of residence. These mostly white employees of the Canal Company lived an isolated life and were prejudiced against the Panamanian population. In 1977, after lengthy negotiations, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that abolished the Canal Zone as a colonial enclave, arranged for Panamanian ownership of the canal in the year 2000, and provided for the closing of American military bases.

In 1925, the United States intervened in a revolt by Kuna Indians on the northeast Atlantic coast and established a tribal reserve. The Kuna enclave has been successful. In the 1930s, the United States' military hired Kuna laborers to work at army bases. After the transfer of sovereignty over the canal, those workers migrated to Panama City.

National Identity. Panamanians do not consider themselves former Colombians. From 1578 to 1751, Panama was the seat of a Spanish real audiencia (court of chancery), with Spanish lawyers and a governor or captain general. The presence of this judicial-legislative-executive government body led to the building of a sense of independent nationhood.

Ethnic Relations. Unlike the former Canal Zone, the government has always repudiated racism and segregation. Because of its nationalistic policies, the government also forbade the use of English in public schools, thus discriminating against the black population.

Urbanism, Architecture, and the Use of Space

Survivors of the burning of Panama City in 1671 rebuilt a walled bastion on a rocky promontory to the west. This became the home of the colonial administration and the Creole elite, who lived in two-story mansions. Outside the city walls was a neighborhood of free blacks living in thatched structures. Farther out were the cattle ranches and farms of the elite, which were staffed by slaves. The walled city survives as the Casco Viejo, and the areas adjacent to it are now densely populated slums. Because the former Canal Zone abuts the old city on the north and west, the growing population was forced to fan out along the bay to the north and east. On the Panamanian side, city blocks were plotted along radial avenues. Bella Vista, a gracious area of Art Deco mansions for the elites grew up in the 1920s along the bay. Farther inland there were working-class tenements. On the "Zone" side there was parkland, with occasional housing clusters. The government is transferring that housing to private owners but is committed by treaty to conserve the natural rainforest areas of the former Zone to prevent the canal from silting.

A few neighborhoods of upper-class walled villas have appeared. Large middle-class subdivisions are being built away from the city center. There are scattered apartment blocks of public housing for workers. Several shopping malls cater to the needs of a city with heavy traffic and an extensive bus system. The major downtown center is the banking district along Via España just past the old aristocratic Bella Vista and next to the first luxury hotels. This and nearby areas have high-rise offices, hotels, and apartments.

Colon on the Atlantic side is now a lower- and underclass settlement abutting the free trade zone. The largely Jewish, Italian, and Arabic entrepreneurs of that zone live in Panama City high-rises and commute daily in small airplanes.

The dominant architectural structure remains the Panama Canal. Inaugurated in 1914, it is still an engineering wonder in which Panamanians take pride.

Food and Economy

Food in Daily Life. Unlike other Spanish colonies, Panama's subsistence agriculture never depended on corn. Game and fish were always sources of protein, and corn is eaten mainly in the form of thick cakes called arepas and maize gruel. The Kuna roast bananas and boil them in a soup dish that consists of water squeezed through grated coconut meat, fish, and fowl or a game meat. This dish resembles the sancocho eaten by many non-Indian Panamanians—a soup of poultry or meat cooked with root vegetables and corn. All the towns and cities have Chinese restaurants, a legacy of the Chinese who came to work on the railroad in the 1850s.

Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Upper class families are likely to serve fresh seafood at weddings, baptisms, and other celebrations. Their cooking style tends to be continental. Interioranos, in contrast, value beef. Their traditional Sunday meal is tasajo, smoked and cured beef with the flavor of ham.

Basic Economy. Before 1502 the native populations practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, growing a variety of root crops. When the urban elite bought rural property, they turned to cattle raising and exported the meat and hides. Livestock production is still an important economic activity, even on very small landholdings, and parts of the rain forest have been converted into pastureland. The naturales and Indian groups still practice slash-and-burn agriculture and do not raise cattle. Afro-colonials engage in coastal horticulture and fishing, as do the Kuna. The unit of currency is the balboa, which is pegged to the United States dollar.

Land Tenure and Property. The San Blas Kuna have had a tribal land reserve since the 1930s. The government is in the process of setting up large reserves for the Guaymí, the Embera, and the Kuna of the Bayano. Interioranos tend to divide up their holdings among many heirs, so that over time properties become quite small, intensifying migration to the cities and to northern and western frontier areas to clear the rain forest and to claim government forest lands through "squatters' rights." Urban migrants are similarly involved in large scale land invasion in idle lands on the periphery of the city. Some of these are planned, others are spontaneous.

Commercial Activities. Interioranos have a system of rural markets and fairs in which locallyowned shops are tied to Chinese shopkeepers and

A Kuna woman applies paint to her face in the San Blas Islands. Four Indian ethnic groups are officially recognized, including the Kuna.
A Kuna woman applies paint to her face in the San Blas Islands. Four Indian ethnic groups are officially recognized, including the Kuna.
wholesalers in the towns. Since the 1960s, Panama has become an international banking center.

Major Industries. Panama never had a plantation economy. Today agribusiness specializes in the production of sugar and bananas.

Trade. The economy relies on transit, transhipping, and banking to earn foreign currency. Panama exports coffee, bananas, beef, and tropical hardwoods. As a major international transshipping center, all types of the world's industrial goods pass through Panama, which keeps or imports electronics, automobiles, and a wide variety of luxury goods. Panama also imports petroleum, as it has no oil fields.

Division of Labor. As of 1997 estimates put 18 percent of the labor force in agriculture, another 18 percent in industry, and 67 percent in service. Of these sectors agriculture is the least productive, accounting for only 8 percent of the gross national product, with industry at 25 percent and services at 67 percent.

Social Stratification

Classes and Castes. The urban Creole upper class, known as the rabiblancos ("white butts"), mingles socially with Americans, Spaniards, Italians, and the oldest segment of the Jewish community, the Sephardic Jews, who came to the country in the 1890s. Prosperous merchants in the small Hindu community worship at a prominent hilltop temple. The Chinese community includes a few wealthy commercial families, members of the professions, a middle class of shopkeepers, and a few very poor recent immigrants. It is perceived as monolithic. People from the interiorano community, other mestizos, and some blacks have also risen to wealth and prominence through the professions, government, and business and services. These people do not intermarry with the old elite. The large urban middle classes consist of interioranos, mestizos, blacks, and educated Indians, especially Kunas.

Symbols of Social Stratification. Class division is not rigid, and the elite is not resented. It is closely linked to the symbols of the republic through its descent from illustrious ancestors and the founding fathers of independence from Spain and Colombia, many of whom have streets named after them.

Political Life

Government. The republic is a constitutional democracy. Panama inherited from Colombia a binary system of liberals versus conservatives, both of which agreed on opposition to the presence of the United States in the Canal Zone. In 1940, these were eclipsed by a nationalist movement led by Arnulfo Arias, who employed fascist rhetoric and methods and was deposed during World War II. Elected again decades later, Arias was deposed again. Omar Torrijos, a military leader, instituted a corporatist, welfare-oriented state with a new constitution that declared him as head of government above a subservient president and cabinet. Although there was a legislative assembly and local councils throughout the republic, the regime was largely a command structure. It borrowed funds from abroad to build an infrastructure, including electrification and education, and united the public behind its effort to gain control of the canal. Torrijos died in a plane crash in 1981, and shortly after his death the military leader Manuel Noriega took over the civil government. After refusing to recognize the results of the 1989 elections, Noriega had the legislature declare him president. Five days later, the United States invaded to protect the Canal, restore democracy, and eventually arrest Noriega for drug trafficking.

Leadership and Political Officials. In the aftermath of the invasion, the Defense Forces were abolished, and Panama has come to have a lively and openly debated political life. Political leaders include members of the old elite. Most persons in public life tend to be middle class, of urban or interiorano origin.

Social Problems and Control. Crime is scarce outside of certain slums in Panama City and Colon, where robberies are common. International drug smuggling is a problem in jungle areas near the border with Colombia. Drug cartels, however, are not reputed to maintain bases within the republic. Panama has never had a leftist guerrilla movement. All the regimes have been able to contain social tensions without endemic violence.

Military Activity. The armed forces have become a police force with a limited defense role. Although the United States vacated its bases, it retains the right to defend the canal against an attack from any source.

Social Welfare and Change Programs

Many social welfare programs were initiated by the Torrijos regime in the 1970s. Today there is a social security system of public hospitals and rural clinics, and the bureaucracy encourages local people to seek outside aid for development projects. The retirement policy for civil servants is very liberal, providing a modest pension after age fifty. The current trend has been to favor privatization and self-help programs.

Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations

Many international organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO), operate locally. Fundación Dobbo Yala was founded by indigenous professionals to represent the native American groups and channel foreign aid funds for educational and development projects. Native Lands attempts to protect indigenous land holdings and reserves.

Gender Roles and Statuses

Division of Labor by Gender. The current president is a woman, and women have reached the top levels of all the professions, especially government service and education. However, there is almost no feminist movement, and relations between the sexes are traditionally Hispanic, with a double standard for sexual relations. Prostitution is legal, and workers in highly visible urban brothels claim to have been secretaries or schoolteachers from other republics whom hard times forced to emigrate in search of economic survival.

Relative Status of Women and Men. In the role of Carnaval Queens, young unmarried women enjoy the very highest symbolic status in almost every municipality in the republic, since all celebrate carnival. Similarly the Kuna Indians revere adolescent girls, and celebrate their coming of age in an elaborate three day ceremony, the inna suid, which culminates in the young woman's hair being cut off down to the scalp. Women enjoy public equality with men, and are seen on the job and in public places such as restaurants, mingling freely with male family members, while being accorded deference and respect.

Marriage, Family, and Kinship

Marriage. Although Guaymí Indian leaders may have more than one wife, other Panamanians marry only one spouse at a time. Divorce is permitted under liberal terms by the Civil Code. Couples of African descent on the Atlantic coast tend to live together without marrying. These unions frequently dissolve as men and women may find new partners during the weekly pre-carnival Congo dances.

Domestic Unit. The ideal family unit for most Panamanians is the nuclear family of a married couple and their children. The Kuna Indians, however, prefer to have new husbands go to live with their brides in the latter's house. These then become extended families around a grandmother, her husband, and her married daughters and their husbands.

Inheritance. Kuna Indians inherit their houses from their mothers. All other property is inherited equally among all heirs from both parents. In the rest of Panama the Civil Code provides for a similar system. In the absence of a will, a deceased widowed man's property goes equally to all his children, male or female.

Kin Groups. Kindreds, networks of related nuclear families, are very important to the urban elites. Upper class persons are likely to give parties, for example,

View of the Panama Canal. Opened in 1914, the canal is an engineering marvel and a source of pride among Panamanians.
View of the Panama Canal. Opened in 1914, the canal is an engineering marvel and a source of pride among Panamanians.
attended only by relatives. Interioranos and naturales also value similar extended family networks. One man will be a pioneer in frontier areas, for example and his and his wife's relatives will follow. Such extended families are opening up the frontier areas.

Socialization

Infant Care. Increased rural-to-urban migration has emptied some villages, especially those of coastal blacks and some interioranos, of young adults. Children live with their grandparents; in extreme cases, there are villages that skip a generation. Among the Kuna, male labor migration has left wives behind in matrilocal households to raise children.

Child Rearing and Education. The educational system is effective through the primary school level. Official literacy rates are as high as 90 percent, and an assumption of literacy prevails in daily interactions in the cities.

Higher Education. The University of Panama is state-supported and has a long history. The Catholic University of Santa Maria la Antigua is its major competitor.

Etiquette

Panamanians are formal in dealings with strangers. There is a minimum of greeting behavior in public, and manners tend to be stiff and not courtly. Once included in family and friendship groupings, a stranger can be incorporated into a party-going network quickly. Dress tends to be formal despite the tropical climate.

Religion

Religious Beliefs. Panama is 85 percent Roman Catholic. Traditional beliefs and practices have been maintained among the native American groups despite a history of missionization.

Rituals and Holy Places. The most important ritual is Carnaval. The capital closes down the five days before Ash Wednesday, and a young queen chosen by charitable organizations presides. A competing "more authentic" celebration takes place in Las Tablas in the interior. Coastal blacks celebrate the Congo, which starts in January and also is presided over by a queen in each community. Its male and female dance groups perform each weekend. The colonial port city of Potrobelo on the Atlantic coast is the site of a shrine to an icon of the Black

Men surround a bull and spectators watch from behind a fence on the Plaza Colonial as they prepare for a bullfight.
Men surround a bull and spectators watch from behind a fence on the Plaza Colonial as they prepare for a bullfight.
Christ, an object of great veneration and of an annual pilgrimage that attracts great numbers during Holy Week.

Medicine and Health Care

The construction of the canal led to the conquest of yellow fever and advances in public health. A legacy of that period is safe drinking water throughout the republic. Gorgas Memorial Hospital specializes in tropical medicine. There is one world-class private hospital, Clinica Paitilla, and several crowded public hospitals.

Secular Celebrations

Panama celebrates two independence days, on 3 November from Colombia and on 28 November from Spain. Festivities tend to be low-key, however, although school children parade in most localities. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are occasions of much merriment, with children burning effigies of Father Time at midnight in many areas. Larger towns in the central provinces hold rodeos for cowboys almost every Sunday.

The Arts and the Humanities

Support for the Arts. Funding from banks has helped art galleries thrive, and local artists are in great demand. The National Institute for Culture (INAC) and the school system both support graphics arts education. Other than that support mainly stems from the open market in art and native and local crafts. A private group, the National Association for Concerts, contracts with local and foreign performers for classical music concerts. The best museum is the Museo del Hombre Panameño in the former railroad station.

Literature. Panama has a number of writers producing short stories, novels, and poetry. Rogelio Sinán is a successful poet and novelist who has acquired an international reputation, but most writers produce for the local market, where they are well received.

Graphic Arts. The Kuna Indians are world-famous for their molas, applique textile panels in geometric or representational designs. The Embera Indians produce basketry of very high quality, as well as wood carvings in tropical hardwoods.

The State of the Physical and Social Sciences

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute runs Barro Colorado Island, a wildlife station inside the canal waterway. There are numerous social scientists, but none has fully described the overall national culture.

Bibliography

De St. Malo, Guillermo and Godfrey Harris. The Panamanian Problem: How the Reagan and Bush Administrations Dealt with the Noriega Regime, 1993.

Doggett, Scott. Panama, 1999.

Drolet, Patricia Lund. "The Congo Ritual of Northeastern Panama: An Afro-American Expressive Structure of Cultural Adaptation." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1980.

Figueroa Navarro, Alfredo. Dominio y Sociedad en el Panamá Colombiano (1821–1903), 1978.

Gasteazoro, Carlos Manuel. Introducción al estudio de la Historia de Panamá. I: Fuentes de la Época Hispana, 1956.

Howe, James. A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the United States, and the San Blas Kuna, 1998.

Joly, Luz Graciela. "One Is None and Two Is One: Development from Above and Below in North-Central Panama." Ph.D. dissertation, Gainesville, 1981.

McCullough, David. The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914, 1977.

Moore, Alexander. "From Council to Legislature: Democracy, Parliamentarianism, and the San Blas Cuna." American Anthropologist 86 (1): 28–42, 1984.

Salvador, Mari Lynn, ed. The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning among the Kuna of Panama, 1997.

Wali, Alaka. Kilowatts and Crisis: Hydroelectric Power and Social Dislocation in Eastern Panama, 1989.

Young, Philip D. Ngawbe: Tradition and Change among the Western Guaymi of Panama, 1971.

Web Site

U.S. State Department, Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook: Panama http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/pm.html

—A LEXANDER M OORE



Also read article about Panama from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
sandy
i thought that this site was very helpful and well organized. It answered all the questions i was looking for and i would deffently use this site again!
2
Carboni
My grand-father Pietro Carboni and his brother Raffaele worked as diggers at Panama channel for 4 years from 1904.

I wish to know some information about the list of the diggers and photos of these workers.

with regards
Gian Piero Carboni
3
kurastin
I thought that this site was very helpful and well organized. It answered all the questions i was looking for and i would deffently use this site again!
4
Meera
I really liked your site, it helped me A LOT with my project. Before, I didn't know that Panama is a country! I thought it was a state or something!. But now, I learned new a beautiful things about Panama and I would like to have my honeymoon there :)

All respect,
Meera
The United Arab Emiraties
5
Sharon
I found this article very helpful in my further understanding of the culture of Panamanians. Thank you. I will certainly visit this site again.
6
Jessica Verano
Thanks, this site was very helpful. Panama is such a cool country. I've done all my reports on it!
7
daniel
Great information on the history, culture, religion, ethnics, and etc on the people of Panama. I should be visiting Panama in March 09 for the second time...lovely place ..someone from CANADA
8
cutie lexi
i thought that this site is very useful.
if i had to grade this site i would give it a 9 outta 10. :D
good job to all that made this site,


p.s gave all correct answers i needed for a research paper :D
9
Alexandra
thanks for the information it helped alot and now i know alot about Panama and their life



THANKS Sincerly,
Alexandra Barnett
10
hiva
its perfect and useful im from iran .i really like it .i use it alot for my research
11
Ericka
i love panama and i want to go back , i still live in Costa Rica but my heart is there
12
Kate
Such a helpful site! Definitely helped me a lot with my project, I would love to visit there someday (I'm from Canada REPRESENTING!!)
13
Marcus
I really appreciate the information you have on this site. I found many things on this site that I couldn't find anywhere else. The information is good and easy to understand.

Thank You,
Marcus
nice very nice, has goot information, but i was wanting to see more about the festivals, that would have been nicer, perhaps you can add more of that?
thanks for this informations,...it helped me a lot in my research paper for my marketing subject! Panama is really a beautiful country,...
yea i agree with the others, this site helped me lot thanx!! You guys keepup the good work!! i'd like to visit panama some day!!
I thought that this article was a magnificent piece of art. I am planning a trip to Panama and this article helped understand some cultural differences that I will have to adapt to for the next few year. Thank you so much for the help. I can't wait to go to Panama now!
Good site for research on a project. :) It has a ton of information. Good Job! :)
WOWZERS! What a great site for reesearch. A boat load of info. (no pun intended, considering the Panama Canal, lol) Thank-you!

P.S.: User: Wowzers, you posted twice. XD
My maternal grandparents, Dr. Earle Urweiler and Margaret Urweiler, lived in the Colon area near the canal between 1900 and 1927. They moved to Panama in the early 1900's. We have a very old newspaper picture of them on the first ship that went through the Colon lock. I am interested in finding out some history of the American Zone in Colon in the 1900's. My mother Eleanor Urweiler Bullard graduated from high school in Colon I believe in approximately 1927. I also have a very old drum which may be from the Kuna's but I am not sure. I am also interested in finding out the history of the drum.
21
step
The font and colors used for this site are not appealing to the eye. It made it difficult to read. Information was helpful though!
I was stationed at Howard AFB, which is now gone. I am also married to a Panamanian-12 years. I think Panama was awesome. Now I have a place to build a home. Que bueno. I was immersed in the culture for two years and it was great. Viva El General. Reggaeton's real birthplace.
23
Mileu Ray
hey(: Panama sounds just as amazing as heaven! this information on this website was very useful to my knowledge! I did a concert there once but i didnt have enough time to go on the beaches, and explore. i am planning to go there soon, someone once told me the best time to go was in November.
Heeey! Thanks for all this information.It helped me get a really good mark in my world wide test :DDD thanks. Luv ya x
25
Maya
this website gave me tons of wonderful information. thanks for inventing this website.
26
Brianna
Fantastic work here, and it helped me all the way through. I needed something, and i'd look, and ta-da! Right there!
27
brittany
I think the article should give more information on panama's culture. for example how and where it started, also all the celebrations they have
28
ashley
Im pamamanian and this is very helpful :)From early periods Afro Panamanians have played a significant role in the creation of the republic. Some historians have estimated that up to 50% of the population of Panama has some African ancestry.

The descendants of the Africans who arrived during the colonial era are intermixed in the general population or are found in small Afro-Panamanian communities along the Atlantic Coast and in villages within the Darién jungle. Most of the people in Darien are fishermen or small scale farmers growing crops such as bananas, rice and coffee as well as raising livestock..

Other Afro-Panamanians are the descendants of later migrants from the Caribbean who came to work on railroad construction projects, commercial agricultural enterprises, and especially the canal.

Important Afro-Caribbean community areas include towns and cities such as Colon, Cristobal and Balboa, in the former Canal Zone,as well as the Rio Abajo area of Panama City. Another region with a large Afro-Caribbean population is the province of Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast just south of Costa Rica.
This Website is Very Helpful. ive always Wanted To Know More about mi abuela And abuelo But I Never had The chance To. This website Helped Me Find all Of The answers I was looking Forward to... thanks .:)
30
Ed Collins
Do you have Traditional Catholic worship in Panama - that is - the traditional Catholic liturgy before the Vatican II council of 1962-65? If yes, in what cities is the Traditional Catholic worship prevalent?

Thanks,
Ed
I was born in Ancon, Panama and am very proud to hear alot oof facts about my home counrty. My parents do pnot speek much of it but i have lost of pictures and i remember quit a bit of it. The p[ictures and my memories depict the beautiful jungle as our back yard. I remember when we were young my sister trying to climb a bananna tree and a monkey throughing his poop at her lol
i had a big project due and this website was very helpful to me becuz i got really deep in the information and thanks to this website i got a " A".
33
Ace
Amazing! This website was very informational and extremely organized. Very helpful! Five stars!
I like this article very much.It is interesting and also very fun to read and enjoy.
I have a question did men and women have specific roles in panama?
so far everything is really helpful for my project/report.
And i couldn't agree more this is an awesome website to learn and interesting as well.
36
Brittany danielle E
wow its great to hear some old facts about my country, im from panama and im afropan but any way my mom was born here and my 6 great grandfather actually worked on the canal back in the 1800's and its just great history to know ! im in estado unidos right now or (america) for those that dont speak spanish and i been here for 10 years its great and all but i miss panama im from elespino panama and every time i read things like this it brings me to my knees in tears cuz i miss it so bad, we had to move form panama when i was four years old ,i spoke spanish and everything but when i came to america all that vanished i mean i can speak it still but very little ! well i guess what im trying to say is keep the heritage alive and thats what your doing and for that i thank you !:)
I found this site super helpful for a report I'm writing in school, you're the best! Thanks, and to anyone reading this you would be very smart to use this site to your advantage, it really helps. To the person running this, try being a little more clear on the culture and adding some, thanks again!
38
jayy
Thanks for the help. It helped a lot for my culture credit for spanish
39
Gigituz
Great info. Please update the current president is Ricardo Martenelli a business mogal from the huge "super 99" chain. Oh I dont think that prostituion is legal since I left many many years ago..so please dont go by that.Otherwise pretty good info in confine mode.
40
Hill
Thanks for the website really helped with my heritage/family culture3 project.GLAS`AS!
41
Vinyl Stickers
Thanks for the recommendation. I found this site very informative and helpful for me regarding socialization and even it covers all the aspects of social activities.
42
alex
i love this web site it waz very helpful and answerd all my questions
43
brittany
I am doing a school project on Panama and was wondering what is a a role strain and conflict in Panama?
Thank you for this very informative site. My daughter just left for a mission trip to Panama. I have very little knowledge about Panama but I feel as though I have something to go on now.
45
PanamaCali
Me being Panamanian and raised with alot of my culture ways I love this site because it gave me a lil more info about some other things that I didn't know about. I hope to visit my roots there real soon.
46
panamapal
I got an A on a project because of this site. Thanks everyculture.com.
47
Bob
i've never used this site before and it was very helpful for my spanish project so thank you everyculture.com
48
Heaven Espinosa
thank you for the help and i just wanted to say thank you very much
49
KAYLA STRANGE
To Much Info, Thanks [:-0) I needed it for my History Project. Thamk You again EveryCulture.com
50
adolfo cachafeiro
Wow... You have probably insulted Panamanians' self identity sense. Didn't you state that Panamanians do not consider themselves former Colombians?? Well, they also DO NOT refer to their fried corn cakes as 'arepas'!! We call them 'tortillas'!! Please correct that fact in your descriptions, or you will be persona non-grata to Panamanians.
51
Liakat
The part about social classes is really unclear. I have a cultural presentation on panama and I need the information. Please make it easier to understand.
I am Panamanian.I found this information to be very helpful,because I came to the United States at the age of 4.I thank you for keeping the Panamanian Heritage alive.
53
Juanita
This information was very educational and valuable to me. I recently met someone that's a Panamanian and wanted to know of his culture so that I can better understand what his values were.
54
shon
The presiden/leader is not a women now, im not sure about before but now it is Rricardo M..
55
Amin
Excellent info. I was stationed in Panama for almost 3 years. I read a book recently that was written by Mary Seacole called the "Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands." She wrote about her impression of Panama during the mid 1800 when she lived there and operated a business catering to mostly travellers (thru what later became the Canal Zone). Every Panamanian should read her personal account of what Panama was like during that era. I don't believe you will find a more truthful account of what it was really like than Ms Seacole's description.
56
Bridget
Hi, I luved read this website. My dad was station in Panama twice. The last time in Ft clayton, than retired from the army in 1976, and work for Panama canal cmiddion. I luv growing up there for about 15 yrs. Part of my heart will always be in panama. I hope to one day go visit again (been in California for about 27 yrs ).
57
Dee
I'm dating a Panamanian American man, he's cultured & spent his childhood summers there. He still has family in Panama. I'm impressed by this site I pray for the people and that one day I will visit first hand to see the Panama Canal one of the wonders of the world in person. My romance with Panama began in my teens long before meeting my prince. Thank you for sharing your beautiful country with me.
58
Carol
I am mother to a son who is currently engaged to a Panamanian girl. Our dilemma is that her mother who is Panamanian says that in her culture the girl cannot ever be alone with the boy until their wedding night. The girl cannot even come to our home to get to know us unless they are with her. They could not go to proms or functions etc. He is however permitted to intertwine with her family, going to functions, going to their home and staying all day. They are getting to know and learn everything about their future Son-in-law; whereas we have and will not be given that same courtesy. How can we as parents get to know our future Daughter-in-Law if she isn't allowed to intertwine with our family? Is this really a Panamanian rule or should I be worried that they are trying to pull my son away from us? We hardly see him anymore because if they call he feels out of respect that he must jump and do whatever they need done. Just curious!
59
morris middle school
I use this website every day to help me with my history homework
60
Ana
This site is very informational and helpful i would love to use this again for more research.
61
Patrick
this site is very cool that i use this site all the time cause it has all the information that you need for your project in the classroom and the teacher can trust it so i advise everybody to use this site alright i have to go bye guys i love you and thanks for the site
62
Tiffany
This site helped me with a school project I have been working on for two days on panama. Thank you
63
Orlando.
My wife and I would be visiting Panama soon. This info is indeed helpful for our short stay over in the city. Sorry we won't have a longer time to share in the Panamanian experience
64
Mina
this website helped tuns with my project thanks! :)
65
Joseph
We have a Spanish school here so we meet a lot of visiting Americans and Canadians who appreciate this site. We think that though this summary is short it is quite accurate.- SpanishPanama

(But Dear Carol #58 above- that is true with a very small minority, but sounds like your instincts may be telling you something,..so "OJO!"
66
reygan
this site really helped me with my Spanish project.
67
riley childress the 5th
this website helped me on my socal studies work and project plz make more of this plz :)
I'm learning so much with that word on my leads pad.to be good.so I love to learn about that
69
Panama study girl
Good source of information, very helpful. I needed this for my panama report. :>)
The information was almost accurate, you just have to update the president, we choose president every 5 years, the current president is Juan Carlos Varela 2014-2019. Some things that offend panamanians are:
-say that Panama is in South America
-call them Colombians
-imitate our manner of speech
-taunt us for not being known beyond the Panama Canal, Zona Libre de Colon or by Carnavales
-call tortillas 'arepas'
Also, teenagers tend to display more affection to their friends, they hug each other, kiss each other, even rest in each other's lap sometimes, but don't misunderstand, this is between close friends.
Reggaeton isn't the only music we hear, we have different tastes depending on the person.
people tend to make parties on sathurdays, sometimes celebrating i don't even know what, they tend to be very loud to me.
Teen pregnancy and school desertation happens.
many basic things are cheaper in Panama
it rains 8 months, the other 4 months are dry and hot. In a morning it could be sunny, then in the evening rain enough to cause an inundation.
if you want to know more, e-mail me.
Need a tourist guide or trusted connection for transportation and cheap rooms reservation?

Let me know!
72
mathews mwaba
I think panama is awesome and iam looking forward to come work at Conte panama when it is complete done.
73
ic
great awesome liked moving i think panama is awesome
74
Dev
I have one question what cultural elements did the Americans leave behind
75
Nilsa
Where did you get his information?"Because of its nationalistic policies, the government also forbade the use of English in public schools, thus discriminating against the black population." Could you cite the year(s) when this happened? I'm 55 yrs old and I learned English in public school in Panama. Even today English is a subject taught in public schools. I would like to know when that happened.
My name is Aliceon. Thank-you so much for the information above. It helps so much and will hopefully continue to help others.
Sincerely,
Aliceon Candace
Thanks for the information that you put above. It helps so much and is very detailed. I hope that the information will continue to help others when they read the helpful and specific knowledge that you have generously shared into the curious world.
Best of luck to Continue with Sharing Information,
Aliceon Candace - Reader of Countries and their Cultures - Forum - Panama's Culture
78
tuna
I like this website in general, and I'm doing something for Social Studies right now so I need this site, but I wanted to study the Cayman Islands, but they didn't have that "country"? Can someone change that, please? Its a REALLY cool place, trust me.
79
Jacqueline Lam
I find this site informative and helpful. I am a marriage and family therapist, I would like this article of Panama culture could elaborate more details about the family law in Panama, such as child protection, the legal right for common-law couples, custody, divorce and alimony etc.
80
hannah
Dow anyone know that religion and language were the precolumbian civilizations and africans forced to learn by the spaniards? why?

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