Contrasting Cultures: Spain and Pakistan

Contrasting Cultures Spain and Pakistan This paper goes through the cultural discordences of twain countries, Spain and Pakistan based on four coating-driving factors food, Religion, C rotaryhing and Language. Culture may differ from rural to rustic, family to family or yet individual to individual. Mostly a kingdom has its culture ,according to which the citizens of that country behave respectively. A nations culture resides in the heart and in the soul of its masses (Mahatma Gandhi) Pakistan, which is officially cognise as Muslim Republic of Pakistan, follows the Islamic law or Shariaa.Its obvious that the main(prenominal) righteousness of Pakistan is Islam. About 96% of the population ar Islamics ,out of which 80% be Sunnis and 20% Shias, 2% be Hindus, less than 1% ar Christians and the other(a)s are Jews, Sikhs, Ismailis etc (Worldtradepress, 2010). As the majority of Pakistanis are Muslims, and is a long factor in driving the culture of Pakistan, all the citi zens engage in the Islamic holidays and festivals for ex international angstrom uniterele Eid-ul-Adha, Eid-ul-Fitr and respect the Muslims who are fasting in the Blessed Month of Ramadan by not drinking or eating in public.Where Pakistan has a dominant religion as Islam, Spains dominant religion is Roman Catholicism which comprises of 94% of the population and the remaining 6% are Muslims, Hindus and Jews (kiwiessential. co. uk, n. d. ) The Catholic Church in Toledo implements instructions on the society, except as the rest of the Europe, Spain has now become a secular country so it literally does not have an official religion. Islam and Arab roots of Spain have been precede for about 400 years, however in the modern Spain there are only Muslims which are either converts or immigrants from Morocco.Religion does not have with child(p) influence on culture in Spain when compared to Pakistan, even though there are dominant religions and minor religions in both countries. The fact or which makes a person known is the language they speak. Both countries have different languages, Urdu world the national language of Pakistan and Castilian Spanish being the dominant language of Spain. but the similarity of languages in both countries is that the other languages spoken in the country are based on the region.For example, In Pakistan, Punjabi is spoken in Punjab province, Sindhi in the Sindh province and the other languages like Balochi, Siraiki, Pashtu and others adding upto 12 different languages (Saarctourism. org,n. d) same(p) is in the case of Spain where Castilian (national language) is spoken in Castile, Galician in Galicia, Basque in Euskardi, verapamil and Valencia in Catalonia and Valencian region respectively (kiwiessential. co. uk, n. d). All the languages spoken in Spain are not known to Pakistanis and vice versa. Hence language differenti ingests the two cultures, and fundamentally defines them.Apart from language, dressing of a person makes the othe r judge from which country he or she belongs to. Spanish people toil semi-conservative but fashionable garment and the way they dress closelyly depends on the weather (Hagerty,J 2012) Women mostly wear modest clothes which do not reveal a lot of skin, They prefer not to wear revealing clothes or otiose in public and mostly wear skirts, long pants or loose fitting apparels (Worldtradepress, 2010). However in Pakistan, the clothing is mostly conservative, draw out for the top(prenominal) class.Shalwar Kameez is the the national dress of Pakistan which is basically a long shirt and loose pants. As the times now in Pakistan have changed, people over there wear both western and traditional clothes, but wearing away sleeveless or short dresses are looked down upon. The apparent movement of Jeans-Kameez is very common in the women now ( Korener S. & Rusell, I. , 2010) However, not wearing Shalwar Kameez by women is still not accepted in umteen parts of Pakistan and moreover w omen or girls are expected to wear the most modest clothes and stay covered as it is a very conservative society as well as a Muslim country.Pakistani clothes are mostly rich in embroidery and abundant of colours (mapsofworld. com) whereas the people in Spain wear clothes which are in general made of wool, cotton or leather because of the geographical situation of the country (Hagerty J. , 2012) The clothes worn in the two countries differentiate each other a lot and mostly the Pakistani clothing especially to women is goaded by the religion factor. The next culture-driving-factor is food. Food is always different regionally throughout the globe.Pakistani food uses a lot of spices and herbs making it an exquisite cuisine. Lentils are eaten a lot as well as wheat and flour products such as Chapatti, which are like the Mexican Tortillas, are eaten roughly daily. The use of clarified butter known as Ghee is widely utilize in the middle-class and low-class of Pakistanis, however now the people are more health conscious which has reduced its use in the upper class. Pakistanis are big lovers of pickles and sour pastes called as chutneys which make their food even tastier. Saarctourism. org,n. d) On the other hand, Spains food is nothing like that of Pakistans. They ate very mild food and mostly have Continental breakfast, a Heavy lunch and a light dinner (Harkins A, 2011). Wine is a must for them during lunch and so are the desserts mainly Black pud The lunch is mostly a four course meal with a soup, a fish or egg administer, a meat dish served with vegetables and a dessert mainly a pastry or custard (Porter D, & Prince D, 2004). However the famous dishes vary from city to city in Spain.Due to the Islamic law any kind of alcoholic beverage is not include in Pakistani meals unlike Spain. Rabbit, Chicken and Pork are the main meats eaten in Spain (expatfocus. com, n. d. ) whereas in Pakistan ,due to Islamic law Pork is not allowed, accordingly chicken, lamb a nd beef are mostly eaten (saarctourism. org). In conclusion, after construe this paper the clear conclusion which comes is that both the cultures are extremely different. They seldom have any similarity. The main point is that Pakistans culture is drive by Religion whereas Spains culture is driven by contributionReferences * Expat Focus, n. d, Spain- Food and Drink, accessed on 5/11/2012, on tap(predicate) universal resource locator http//www. expatfocus. com/expatriate-spain-food-drink? gclid=CMzKzYuVurMCFSHHtAodmjMA2Q * Hagerty, J 2012, 10 Facts about Clothing in Spain, accessed on 6/11/2012, available URL http//www. travels. com/travel-tips/advice/facts-clothing-spain/ * Harkins, A 2010, Espana, accessed on 6/11/2012, available URL http//dreamweaver. reinhardt. edu/harkins91109/spain-cultures. html * Kiwi essential, n. , Spain Culture Guide Religion in Spain, accessed 5/11/2012, available URL http//www. kwintessential. co. uk/articles/spain/Spain-culture-guide-Religion-in-Spa in/21 * Kiwi essential, n. d, Spain-Language, culture, customs duty And Etiquette, accessed 5/11/2012, available URL http//www. kwintessential. co. uk/resources/global-etiquette/spain-country-profile. html * Koerner, S & Russell, I 2010, Unquiet Pasts,p382-385, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. , accessed on 6/11/2012, URL http//books. google. ae/books? id=7li2jpQgYvAC&pg=PA382&dq=nati