Over the centuries, whites, blacks and half-breeds in Brazil made up one of the most creative groups of artists in the Americas. Some of them are: Oscar Neimeyer in architecture, Candido Portinari in painting, Heitor Villa-Lobos in music, Jorge Amado in literature, and Glauber Rocha in film.

Furthermore, Brazilians are fond of their folklore that rages from festivals like Carnival, notably the parade of "Escolas de Samba" in Rio de Janeiro, to "Bumba-meu-Boi" a dance with animal masks performed in cities of the Northeast region, to the Wine Festivals in the Southern States. Countless nationalities and cultures are seasoning and adding marked or subtle flavors to Brazil's culture scene. Drawing on the heritage of their different European, African, Middle-Eastern and Asian backgrounds, each and every immigrant group contributes to the enrichment and development to the nation's colorful and extraordinarily varied culture, but not eclipsing the original Amerindian input, which is a rich , still vibrant backdrop to this dynamic cultural drama.

Sports are also very much a part of the Brazilian lifestyle and virtually all types are enthusiastically practiced all over the country, on sandlots, beaches or in modern stadiums like Rio's "Maracanã" stadium, with a capacity of 180.000 people cheering for their team. "Futebol" - soccer - is of course the unchallenged favorite, each and every Brazilian is unable to resist closely following the fortunes of the national team, which in 1994 became the first in history to win the world cup for the 4th time. Along with Portuguese, the Indian Tupi-Guarani language, written down and simplified by the Jesuits, became a common language which was understood by the majority of the population. It was spoken by the general pubic until the middle of the 18th century, but its usage diminished with the great number of Portuguese gold-rush immigrants and a royal proclamation in 1757 prohibiting its use. With the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759, Portuguese was well and truly established as the national language.

Officially, Brazil is a Catholic country and claims the largest Catholic population of any country in the world. However, Brazil is also noted for the diversity and syncretism of its many sects and religions, which offer great flexibility to their followers. Fore example, without much difficulty you can find people from Catholic backgrounds who frequent the church and have no conflict appealing for help at a "terreio de umbanda", the house of one of the Afro-Brazilian cults. Candomblé is the most orthodox of the cults brought from Africa.

Brazilians are among the most musical people on the planet. Wherever you go, you'll find people playing, singing and dancing. Perhaps because of its African roots, Brazilian music is a collective act, a celebration, a festa.Brazilian popular music has always been characterized by great diversity. Shaped by the mixing of a variety of musical influences from three different continents, the music of the people is still creating new and original forms. Thus "samba canção" for example, is a mixture of Spanish bolero with the cadences and rhythms of African music. "Bossa Nova" was influenced by North American music, particularly jazz, and samba. And the music called "tropicalismo" is a mix of musical influences that arrived in Brazil in the 1960's including Italian ballads and bossa nova.