The Importance Of Traditions In American Culture

For decades America has been a refuge for those hoping to escape their country or start a new life. They advertised the nation as the land of opportunity and a melting pot for those seeking to come to America and find a new life. They welcomed immigrants by sharing their language, culture, and way of life. Nonetheless, not everyone was eager to forsake their culture and traditions. Generally, if immigrants do not assimilate, they continue their traditions, blend their original traditions with the new one, or create an all new culture. The latter was adopted by the pachucos and pachucas of the 1940s in Los Angeles. Pachucas, in particular, faced issues with sexism, racism, classism, and heterosexism. They were despised by both American and Mexican communities by their way of dress and their way of life. …show more content…
Like many of immigrants, Mexican immigrants, typically, did not assimilate right away. They usually continued their traditions and worked to maintain their family. The second generation of Mexican Americans were forced to live their lives with two cultures constantly clashing with the other. They spoke English at school and spoke Spanish at home; this resulted in creating their own language as a mixture of the two. They developed a dialect called caló, which is an argot that uses slang from the Spanish of their parents and is recognized as the language of the pachucos (De Leon). Caló is the common predecessor to the language we now know as Spanglish. Caló is the language used to describe their culture. For example, what Americans know as zoot-suits, pachucos call tachuce