Castizo

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Castizo


caption = Notable Castizos:
region1 = flagcountry|Costa Rica
pop1 =
region2 = flagcountry|Argentina
pop2 =
region4 = flagcountry|Colombia
pop3 =
region5 = flagcountry|Mexico
pop 5 =
pop6 =
region7 = flagcountry|Chile
pop7 =
region8 = flagcountry|Uruguay
pop8
region9 = flagcountry|Peru
pop9

langs = Predominantly Spanish
rels = Christianity (Predominantly Roman Catholic, with a minority of Protestant and other Religions)
related = European (mostly Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian), Amerindian people, Hispanics and Latinos

"Castizo" (IPA-es|kas•'ti•θo or IPA2|kas•'ti•so) is a Spanish word with a general meaning of "pure" or "genuine". The feminine form is "castiza". From this meaning it evolved other meanings, such as "typical of an area" [" [http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=castizo Castizo] ," Diccionario de la Real Academia.] and it was also used for one of the colonial Spanish race categories, the "castas", that evolved in the seventeenth century.

Race

Under the caste System of colonial Latin America, the term originally applied to the children resulting from the union of a European and a "mestizo"; that is, someone who is three quarters white and one quarter Amerindian ancestry. During this era a myriad of other terms ("mestizo", "cuarterón de indio", etc.) were in use to denote other individuals of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than that of "castizos". The feminine form of the word is "castiza".

It was mainly used for mixed-race people who had a slightly darker complexion than what was assumed an unmixed Spaniard would have, but which were otherwise of European appearance with almost no visible admixture. Under this same caste system, the offspring of a Spaniard and a Castiza was classified as a Spaniard, thus the offspring regained his or her "purity of blood". ("See the related concept of Limpieza de sangre.")

For some "castizos" whose residual quarter of Amerindian ancestry wasn't apparent at all, these were simply not categorized as "castizos", and were accepted as "Criollos" (Spaniards born in the Americas).

With the fall of the Spanish Empire, the distinctions of the numerous caste terminologies (other than White, Black, Amerindian, Mestizo, Mulatto and "Zambo") lost meaning as these legal categories were seen as incompatible with the new concept of citizenship. "Castizos" today would simply be categorized as Whites or "mestizos", depending on perception and self-identification.

For United States Latinos, who in the past would have been classified as "Castizos", "Light Mestizos" or "Euro-Mestizos" are relatively common contemporary American English terms used,Fact|date=August 2008 but more common phrase in use is "light skinned," usually in conjunction with the national demonym (e.g., a "light-skinned Mexican," a "light-skinned Puerto Rican").

In Madrid

"Castizo" is used in Madrid for costumes, music, speech typical of the Madrid populace about the end of the 19th century. A person dressed in "Castizo" fashion can be called "manolo"/"manola" and "chulapo"/"chulapa". Many zarzuelas are set in a "Castizo" environment, like "La verbena de la Paloma."

Items associated with "Castizo" culture are the street swivel piano, barquillos, Schottisch music and Manila shawls.

Casticismo in the Spanish language

"Casticismo" was a tendency among Spanish intellectuals to reject foreign loanwords and stick to traditional Spanish roots. An example is "deporte", a word recovered from Medieval Castilian meaning "pastime", that successfully replaced the Anglicism "sport", which has the same Latin origin as the Spanish word.

ee also

*White Latin American
*Peninsulares
*Mestizo
*Cholo
*Casta