The wealth of cultural expression in Honduras owes its origins primarily to being a part of Latin America but also to the multi-ethnic nature of the country. The population comprises 90% Mestizo, 7% Indigenous, 2% African descent, and 1% White. This influences all facets of the culture: customs, practices, ways of dressing, religion, rituals, codes of behavior and belief systems.
Popular culture
Popular culture in Honduras, as in most countries, is expressed not so much through sophisticated artistic creations, but rather by popular events that draw big crowds. In Honduras, such artistic and cultural events are held on specific days of the year and through special celebrations. Punta is a kind of dance and music the Hondurans proudly gather to do.
Hondurans celebrate national holidays and special events in the form of carnivals, fairs and parades throughout the year. For instance, in La Ceiba the annual carnival is a week-long celebration with music, exhibitions and special food, culminating in the most popular carnival in the country: "The Carnival of Friendship".
The Feria Juniana (June Fair) of San Pedro Sula includes musical concerts performed throughout the week, sporting events and exhibitions.
Puerto Cortés celebrates its fair in August with a "Venice" theme which includes parades of gondolas and other boats in the bay, and an evening fireworks display launched from boats.
Being a predominantly Catholic country, Honduras gives special attention to the celebrations of Holy Week. In some regions of the country, such as Comayagua, Choluteca, Copán and Intibucá, processions are held, especially during Thursday and Good Friday. Through these events, Hondurans commemorate the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for humanity by reenacting the events during the week between Palm Sunday and Jesus Christ crucifixion.
One of the notable Holy Week traditions is the creation of sawdust carpets along procession routes. These temporary artworks are prepared for religious processions and often depict Christian themes.
Hondurans celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve on 24 and 31 December respectively. During these celebrations, the majority of Honduran homes cook special dishes to mark the occasion. Favorites include tamales wrapped with banana leaves, roast pigs' legs, and pastries. All of these celebrations are complemented at the end of the night with fireworks and firecrackers.
Other celebrations of special interest to Hondurans include Mothers' Day, Children's Day, Labor Day, Teachers' Day and Friendship Day.
Ethnic cultures
The predominant ethnic group in Honduras are the mestizo - people of mixed native and European (mostly Spanish) descent. Mestizos account for over 84% of the population of Honduras. There are several other minority ethnic groups. Amongst them are people who descend from native tribes that lived in the area before the Spanish arrived: Lencas, Chortís, Tolupanes, Pechs (also called Payas), Tawahkas, and Miskitos.
There is also a group called the Garífunas who descend from African slaves from the Caribbean islands.
According to the 2001 census the Amerindian population in Honduras included 381,495 people (6.3% of the total population). With the exception of the Lenca and the Ch'orti' they still keep their language.
Six different Amerindian groups were counted at the 2001 census: the Lenca (279,507 in 2001;4.6% of the total population) living in the La Paz, Intibucá, and Lempira departments; the Miskito (51,607 in 2001; 0.8%) living on the northeast coast along the border with Nicaragua. the Ch'orti' (34,453 in 2001;0.6% of the total population), a Maya group living in the northwest on the border with Guatemala; the Tolupan (also called Jicaque, "Xicaque", or Tol; 9,617 in 2001; 0.2% of the total population), living in the department of Yoro and in the reserve of the Montaña de la Flor and parts of the department of Yoro; the Pech or Paya Indians (3,848 in 2001; 0.1% of the total population) living in a small area in the Olancho Department; the Sumo or Tawahka (2,463 in 2001; <0.1%)
Lenca culture The Lenca society forms the majority indigenous group, they gave resistance to the Spanish conquerors, who had to resort to various tactics and tricks to be able to subdue them. Chief Lempira, one of the Honduran heroes, was part of the Lencas tribe. His death at the hands of Rodrigo Ruiz, meant the final conquest of Honduran territory by the Spanish. In the cultural part, the Lencas have lost their language and most of their religious practices, although they still practice peace pacts among themselves, as well as offerings to their ancestral gods, and some of them still retain their original way of dressing. Their food base comes from the sowing of basic grains, especially corn, from where they contributed culturally to Honduras the ‘Chicha’; in the artistic-economic plane the Lencas stand out for their pottery.
Garifuna culture
The Garífuna of Honduras come from the Lesser Antilles and more specifically from the island of San Vicente. From this place, the Garífunas were deported by the English in small boats, reaching the Bay Islands in 1797. This group of approximately 2000 Garífunas was later joined in the late 1800s and early 1900 by another considerable number of Garifuna immigrants with the purpose of alleviating the labor shortage in Honduras. Throughout its history, the Garífuna have settled on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, being the departments of Islas de la Bahía, Cortés, Atlántida and Colón where the largest number of Honduran Garífunas are concentrated.
This territory has allowed this group to depend on the marine resources provided by the northern coast of Honduras. Seafood, grains, fruits, and coastal legumes are part of the nutritional base of this ethnic group, among which are: Fish, bananas and yucca. From the latter they take the famous ‘casabe’, which is served almost daily in Garífuna households.
The Atlantic coast of Honduras also allows the Garífunas to preserve their Afro-Caribbean customs, among which are: Their Garífuna language, their religious system known as ‘Dugú’. Although today, the majority have come to accept the Catholic religion. The most important cultural contribution of the Honduran Garífuna in the world is the dance 'Punta' which reached high levels of popularity in the early 1900s after the musical success 'Sopa de Caracol', promoted by the group 'Banda Blanca' from Honduras. At the sporting level, the Garífuna have excelled greatly, particularly in soccer. Many have been the members of this ethnic group, who have been part of the Honduras soccer team.
As of 2019, the National Autonomous University of Honduras celebrates the Garífuna National Interuniversity Cultural, Artistic and Academic Encounter annually.
Famous Hondurans
Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga was a candidate to replace Pope John Paul II after his death in 2005 and Pope Benedict XVI after his retirement in 2013.
Salvador Moncada is a scientist of Honduran origin. He is married to Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium. His principal area of study is pharmacology, especially with respect to the effects of products of the metabolism of diverse acids, as well as the synthesis, action, and degradation of the biological mediator nitric oxide.
America Ferrera, an American actress, was born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents. Best known for the lead role in ABC's "Ugly Betty", she has also been successful on the big screen with her role in Real Women Have Curves. She has also won a Golden Globe Award and received recognition from the Screen Actors Guild. Juan Carlos Fanconi, is the most famous Honduran film director of the last decade, within his filmography he has collaborated with actors of Colombian, Argentine, and Mexican origin in many Honduran productions.
David Archuleta, finalist and runner-up of season 7 of "American Idol," and Jive Records artist, was born in Miami, Florida to a Honduran mother, Lupe, and an American father, Jeff. On September 17, 2009, he was awarded Male Music Rising Star at the 2009 ALMA Awards (American Latino Media Arts Awards). David performed "Contigo En La Distancia" on the show, receiving strong praise and recognition from critics and viewers alike. He has also won five Teen Choice Awards.
Neyda Sandoval and Satcha Pretto work with Univisión of the United States. Renán Almendárez Coello from Honduras is the morning man on radio station KLAX-FM of Los Angeles. He has been active in charity work, assisting the poor of Central America and Mexico.
Athletes The most popular sport in Honduras is Association football. Among the most outstanding players are José Cardona who played for Atlético Madrid in Spain; Gilberto Yearwood who played in Elche, Spain; Porfirio Betancourt, who played in France, Spain, and the United States, Carlos Pavón, who currently plays for Real España; and David Suazo, who used to be a player of Internazionale, who was named The Most Valuable Foreign Player of the Italian league in 2006.
Others footballers include Wilson Palacios in Stoke City of England, Maynor Figueroa in Hull City of England; Amado Guevara in Motagua, Honduras; and Carlo Costly in SC Vaslui of Romania.
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Musicians
Music in Honduras has flourished since pre-Hispanic periods, long before the colony, some of the autochthonous pre-Hispanic instruments are the following: Aerophones, Yaxchilan Mud Frog, Zampoñas, Quenas, Charangos, Drums. After colonization, new musical instruments were created: the snail, flutes, some percussion instruments and the Marimba. Within Creole or folk music we have the following: El Candú, El Pitero, Torito Pinto, Flores de Mimé, El Bananero.
Some notable Honduran musicians include Rafael Coello Ramos, Lidia Handal, Victoriano López, Jorge Santos, Norma Erazo, Sergio Suazo, Hector David, Angel Ríos, Jorge Mejia, Javier Reyes, Guillermo Anderson, Victor Donaire, Francisco Carranza, Camilo Rivera Guevara, Héctor David, Javier Monthiel and Moisés Canelo.
Escuela de Música Victoriano López in San Pedro Sula city.
At the international level the musical group Banda Blanca stood out, with their hits "Sopa De Caracol", "Do you Know Who Came?" and "Fiesta". Although the group produces merengueros rhythms, the Calypso and other Caribbean rhythms, their specialty is the Punta style, which they popularized during the 1990s.
Other musical groups include The Professionals, The Gran Banda, The Rolands, Angeles negros, Cafe Guancasco, and Atomic Rose.
Writers
The literature in the territory of present-day Honduras dates back more than 1,500 years ago, it was developed by the Mayan civilization in the city of Copán, the Mayan Script of our ancestors that used logograms and syllabic glyphs Mayan literature is preserved in the stelae, pyramids and temples at Copán. The city of Copán is home to the most informative pyramid in America, the Pyramid of Hieroglyphs that has more than 2,500 glyphs.
Among the most notable writers from Honduras are David Fortin, Froylán Turcios Juan Ramón Molina, Rafael Heliodoro Valle, Antonio José Rivas, Clementina Suárez, Ramón Amaya Amador, Marco Antonio Rosa, Roberto Sosa, Lucila Gamero de Medina, Roberto Quezada, Armando García, Helen Umaña, Alberto Destephen, Argentina Díaz Lozano, Rony Bonilla and Julio Escoto. Contemporary writers include Ernesto Bondy Reyes, Giovanni Rodríguez, Glenn Lardizábal, Bayardo de Campoluna, Venus Ixchel Mejía, Alex Darío Rivera, Azucena Ordoñez Rodas, among others.
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Arts and Media
The first printing press was brought to Honduras by General Francisco Morazán from Guatemala. He used it to begin publication in 1830 of The Gazette of the government. Bulletins and informative weekly papers soon followed.