Honduras

Honduras is both one of the largest and poorest countries in Central America. Extended family ties are the key components of social networking. Hondurans also form social identities based on region, ethnicity, religion, family, political party affiliation, and occupation. Agricultural, economic, and ethnic organizations and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are important providers of social welfare programs. Recreational and cultural activities include sports, arts, fiestas, and online social networking.

Hondurans share a sense of national identity as well as broader Central American and Latin American identities. Tense relations with the United States and a love of soccer are other unifying social forces. Most Hondurans are Spanish speakers of mestizo (mixed) descent. There are also regional and ethnic group identities, such as the Afro-Caribbean Bay Island culture and the Garifuna, Miskito, and Chorti among other indigenous peoples. There is a sizable population of Arab-Hondurans, who sometimes face discrimination and resentment over their business success. Ethnic tensions have arisen over issues such as indigenous political and land rights.

The majority of Salvadorans are Roman Catholic, and the Catholic Church has held a historically prominent place in Latin American culture and politics from the Spanish colonial period. Indigenous or African religious practices also remain, and evangelical Protestantism has recently grown through missionary work. Traditional healers known as curanderos are popular among some Hondurans. Religion often carries a social class connotation, with Catholicism dominant among the wealthy and Protestantism among the poor. Many NGOs have a religious affiliation, such as Catholic Relief Services. Communal religious celebrations include the Day of the Cross, nightly Christmas Posadas, Holy Week events prior to Easter, and the feast day of Honduras's patron saint the Virgin of Suyapa (February 2).

Hondurans place great social emphasis on the maintenance of extended family networks, either living in close proximity, visiting often, or communicating through online social networking sites. Extended-family meals on Sunday afternoons are common. Family, and family honor, determines many components of a person's social identity, including one's political party affiliation. Blood feuds are endemic to certain regions. Accent and pronunciation also mark a person's social class. Although there are social class distinctions, there is less class conflict than found in other Central American nations. In some cities, the elite showcase their material possessions and belong to exclusive social clubs. There is also an educated, professional middle class as well as rural campesinos and migrant workers and the urban poor.

Farmers cooperatives, formed in the 1970s, are still common, although many grant individual families their [Page 385]own plots of land to work. Hondurans with political ambitions work within political party networks and display their party loyalties, as loyal party workers are often rewarded with jobs. Many NGOs are active in Honduras, with programs targeting agriculture, forest preservation, health services and family planning, and urban street children. Many indigenous people have organized for land and civil rights, such as the Miskito organization Mopawi, which helped prevent development projects that would have disrupted their traditional way of life.

Most towns and cities feature a communal center for socializing, fiestas, sports, or entertainment events. Secular celebrations include Labor Day (May 1) and Independence Day (September 15). Latin music, novels, and television programs are popular. Cultural and artistic forms include impressionist painting, political cartoons, theater, literature, popular and folk music, and dance. Although Internet use has increased dramatically in Latin America due to the lower cost of personal computers and more available broadband networks, only 8.4 percent of the Honduran population have Internet access, according to Internet World Stats. Most Hondurans with Internet access rely on e-mail and social networking sites such as Sonico, Facebook, and MySpace to stay in contact with family and friends.

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