Local Culture In Portugal

The Portuguese culture heavily revolves around family life. Family is the absolute foundation of everything in Portugal and when it comes down to it you can see how the lack of these beliefs are the base of many of the problems in other countries around the world.

It is not uncommon to see three generations of families all living together and you will find that when you are eating out in a restaurant for example, there is a great amount of respect given towards the older generation and children are really appreciated by the other people who are eating rather than merely tolerated as they usually are when eating out in the UK.

Even the extended family, aunties, Uncles and Cousins for example are all usually really close to other members of the family.

Loyalty and family values are considered to be the most important values that you could ever have and and comes before anything else, and that includes business and any other kind of relationship. It is also extremely common that if a family has a business they will usually employ members of their own family. This is seen as normal and does not attract negative comments as it would do in the UK for example.

The Portuguese culture is also highly prevalent in business. There is a formal manner in which the Portuguese go about business and this often comes across as them being extremely polite and courteous. It is not uncommon for an important business decision being agreed on a handshake and the trust put on a handshake means everything to the Portuguese.

Some people are quite amazed at how the Portuguese respect authority and this seems to come from the strong belief in the Catholic church.

Along with family values the church is an extremely important part of Portuguese life and it is usual for the whole family to dress up in their best clothes to visit church. In a way it is probably what it was like in the UK fifty years ago and many people see this as being one of the major attractions of the country.

So, the Portuguese culture is centred around the family and the church and the result of this is that it is considered a safe and stimulating place to bring up a family and at the same time installing basic values which go along way in this ever changing world.

To your new life!

The Living In The Sun Team

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