Culture of Freedemia

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This article is about culture in Freedemia.

Overview

Language

Religion

Art

Music

Freedemia has a rich heritage in music

Marches

Despite its pacifist culture and not having an exploratory military, patriotic military-style marches are significant parts of Freedemia's music history, being extremely popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s and remaining popular to current day as patriotic celebrations of Freedemia. Much of the march trend was driven by composer Oliver Newcom, known as Freedemia's "Master of Marches", known for compositions such as "Bells of Democracy", "The Matriarch", and the "Service Guard March".

Ragtime and Novelty

Redimidan Dance

Similar to how Budrian syncopation and musical styles intertwined with Ingerish music styles in ragtime, in the formerly Castellanese part of Freedemia, a unique dance music emerged from the mix of Castellanese and Budrian styles. Redimidan dance tended to be mostly upbeat and celebratory, using primarily major chords. The traditional song "La Gallina de Tarefia" ("The Hen of Tarephia", referencing Freedemia's nickname) is one of the most well known examples of the style.

Swing and Jazz

Hymns and Gospel

Jingles

The jingle culture that places like the Federal States had in the 1940s-1960s never quite died out in Freedemia. The local phrase of "Sex sells, but a good jingle sells triple" exemplifies the culture around jingles in Freedemia. Most major companies use jingles in their product advertising, political candidates use jingles in their campaign ads, and even the doors closing sound on many metro trains tend to be jingles (such as the Quentinsburgh Metro doors closing sound) rather than just tones or beeps.

Visual Art

One of the most significant parts of Freedemian visual art culture is landscape painting, largely inspired by Freedemia's grand landscapes of mountains, meadows, and beaches. This would eventually evolve into a wider culture that included paintings of cityscapes

Another is nude art,

Architecture

Theater

Film

Cuisine

Meats

Poultry is by far the most popular meat in Freedemia, with chicken especially being a staple of Freedemian cuisine in various forms, partly owing to the domestication of the native green-headed chicken adapted for the tropical climate. Mutton/lamb and beef are also quite popular, along with seafood in many coastal areas and in the Auliffe Islands. Partially due to the Pacifist Christic, Ibryim, and Imani populations believing pork is improper to consume, pork is uniquely nearly nonexistent in Freedemian cuisine. Turkey, beef, or lamb are often substituted for pork in things like sausage, bacon, lunch meats, "ham", and chops. Beef and chicken barbeque are popular in the formerly Ingerish and Castellanese regions. Fried chicken skins (akin to fried pork skins/pork rinds elsewhere) are popular snacks, especially in the Castellanese region. Mazanite immigration has led to meat kebabs being popular as well, while Navennese and Plevian immigrants brought sausagemaking and fine deli meats.

Cheeses

Freedemians are known to have a very cheese-filled diet. While cheeses originating from Plevia and other regions are very popular as well, several types of domestically-produced cheese are some of the most popular. Chavana cheese, from the eastern agricultural regions, is similar to Plevian hard, granular cheeses and is produced from cow's milk, typically aged for at least 9 months. Redimidan queso is similar to forms of queso blanco around the world, but is usually mixed with a special variant of Chavana specifically made to melt easier for dipping and filling. Wallacian cheese, from the Rivagien and Ingerish regions, is a soft crumbly cheese made from sheep milk.

Fruits and Vegetables

The tropical environment makes it convenient to grow tropical fruits, such as the turtlefruit, a fruit closely related to the pineapple but with an exterior that resembles a turtle shell and a slightly greener interior, and the huevomango, a mostly whitish-reddish mango that mainly grows in Freedemia.

Popular Foods

Rice and egg dishes are some of the most common in Freedemia, sometimes together (such as eggs, onions, and rice as a popular breakfast meal).

Fried foods are fairly common in Freedemian street foods, and often viewed as the most representative of typical Freedemian cuisine.

The most typical street food of Freedemian cuisine is the pizacyro, a type of fried flatbread usually topped with toppings similar to that of pizza, tacos, or gyros, where the name is believed to originate. It is believed that the pizacyro came from some of Freedemia's poorer communities, where creating the fried bread was an effort to make a meal out of leftover foods and small amounts of flour and oil. Meats (usually beef, lamb, chicken, or sausage), sour cream, melted shredded or crumbled cheese, tomatoes or tomato sauce, lettuce (or other similar leafy greens), onion, and garlic are the most common toppings. Turtlefruit and pineapple are also common, though highly controversial. Today, pizacyros are a staple of Freedemian street food, and have slowly risen in popularity around the world, even spawning fast food varieties such as the Pizacyro Hero fast food chain. Desert pizacyros have also become popular over time, often topped with jellies, fruits, and ice cream.

Empanadas are also very popular throughout the country, partially deriving from Castellanese influence. Fillings are quite diverse, but lamb, beef, chicken, beans, and shredded or grated cheese are the most common. Other fried Castellanese or Latinian-derived foods, such as tostadas and Redimidan chalupas (with more of a fried shell), are also popular street foods. Fried vegetables and fried meats (especially poultry, such as fried chicken) also make up much of the cuisine.

International favorites such as cheeseburgers, franquese fries, hot dogs, and pizza are popular in Freedemia, often with their own variants such as Quentinsburgh-style pizza and turtlefruit on burgers. Many Freedemian deserts, such as crêpes, come from Rivagien cuisine. Many staples of Tigerian cuisine such as pain mei and aux perles are popular as well, partially from Meilan's proximity, and mediterranean dishes have been brought over by Mazanic immigrants.

Drinks and Beverages

Vending Machines

Due to the heat and humidity Freedemia sees consistently, dehydration is common, and people are frequently looking for places to get something to drink. Around 1960, seeing the budding success of vending machines in countries like Izaland and Freedemia's similarly low rates of vandalism and theft, beverage companies like Jewel-Polar saw an opportunity, and around the 1970s began a mass rollout of vending machines across the country. Snack machines followed shortly after, and today it is hard to go anywhere in a major city in Freedemia without there being at least vending machine nearby.

Water Fountains

National Character

Pacifism

Common Courtesy

Attitude towards alcohol, smoking, substances

Fashion and Dress

Due to the extremely hot and humid climate, typical Freedemian clothing tends to be very thin and airy, often made of sheer cotton, lace, or mesh. Most of the time, people of both genders only wear one layer of clothing, and undergarments are rarely worn. Unlike in places like the Federal States, cultural perceptions of modesty in Freedemia is not associated with dress or amount of skin showing. Barechestedness, regardless of gender, is both legal and extremely common in casual settings, and it is normal for Freedemians to be nude at parks, beaches, or pools. The modesty of the culture, cultural acceptance of the body, and the intensity of the climate mean general acceptance of the aforementioned overall clothing style.

Barechested Equality

Nudism

Sports

Popular Culture

Entertainment

Film

"Cartoon Culture"

Video Games

Holidays