In what way is the culture of your region/area different from the rest of your country? (And possibly more similar to a neighbouring country)

19 comments

1. When we order a mix between beer and lemonade, we call it an Alster (a river in Hamburg) which is typically for northern Germany, while in other regions it would be ordered as Radler (cyclist). A bigger area from southern to Central and even north is “Radler” area

2. Aside from the typical rural-urban divide, it’s pretty monolithic.There are some regional festivals that are more unique, like [Carneval](https://csodalatosmagyarorszag.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/busojaras-mohacs-2020-tuz-teluzes-csodalatosmagyarorszag.jpg)or [Busójárás](https://nlc.p3k.hu/data/cikk/20/199854/1.jpg) in Mohács which is a celebration to chase away the winter.

   Or there’s [Easter](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7c7b7b_b1f9dff318d448c7a00c76c1b4c5a053.jpg/v1/fit/w_2500,h_1330,al_c/7c7b7b_b1f9dff318d448c7a00c76c1b4c5a053.jpg) in [Hollókő](https://koroshircentrum.hu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/278266049_7519156604791171_5002654872260194848_n.jpg) where people dress up in folk costumes and dance, but aside from the costumes Easter celebrations are similar all across the country.

   Food and specific ways to prepare stuff are very important locally.

   Then there are the world famous historic wine regions which have different profiles. Like in the [Balaton highlands](https://csodalatosbalaton.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/csobanc-osz-var-szent-donat-kapolna-borvidek-kirandulas-csodalatosbalaton-magyarorszag-turazas.jpg) white wine is the historic produce, while in [Villány](https://vjm.hu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/grape-1945429_1920.jpg)it’s red wine and in [Eger](https://cdn.agrarszektor.hu/cimlap/B/borvidek-hegyvidek-20211101.jpg) and [Tokaj](https://kep.cdn.indexvas.hu/1/0/3675/36751/367517/36751755_48eb4cfba10bf93f6bf7a4914214ed76_wm.jpg) it’s red wine mixtures like [Bull’s Blood](https://www.bor-neked.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Thummerer-Egri-Bikav%C3%A9r-%C3%A9rt%C3%A9kel%C3%A9s.jpg) and [sweet dessert wines](https://m.blog.hu/re/reaktor/image/hangavari_aszu_760x428_1.jpg).

   Then there are the two large fishing/port cities along the Danube and the Tisza rivers, Baja and Szeged which are famous for their [fishermen’s soup](https://streetkitchen.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/szegedi-halaszle-egyedi.jpg) and paprika. Generally the south-southeast are known for good food like the famous [gulyás soup](https://static.streetkitchen.hu/test/uploads/2021/03/alfoldi-gulyasleves-5-egyedi-767×915.jpg) and the békési [sausage](https://www.nak.hu/images/thumbnails/images/_ujelelmiszeripar/Csabai_Kolbasz-fill-800×533.jpg).

3. One the one hand Portugal has been one political entity for a almost 900 years, so, from north to south, and to the islands, there’s not soooo much one could point at as being obviously different between the different regions, especially not someone from outside. In recent times, with centralized media outlets and internet and so on, this indistinction has increased more and more. On the other hand, there are several things one can notice, from north to south (and from coast to interior).

   From north to south there’s a big difference in land ownership. In the north the land is much more distributed between smaller owners, while in the south there are huge swath of lands belonging to few families (Spain also has this, if I’m not wrong).

   The popular culture, which in recent times was very much ignored but might be making a comeback, is different between the several regions: the singing, the traditional clothes, the religious processions, and so on. The north traditionally was more religious; it is also more right leaning than the south, though Portugal as a whole is very center.

   Speaking from the reality I know, in the north you can walk just a few kilometers in some direction, to another parish/region, and you can already hear differences in accents, and they’re already celebrating a different saint, or have some very particular backstory to their place.

   And when comparing to different countries, obviously we can only bring up Spain, but like us, Spain has differences from north to south, and so on. The north of Portugal and Galicia used to be the same kingdom and cultural unit, and this already dated all the way back to pre-roman times, where the regions were part of the Cultura Castreja. Some of this influence can still be seen, or felt. I believe the same can be felt in the south, to other regions of Spain.

   Last thing I can remember, it was said women from the north of Portugal were more outspoken, less likely to take shit from someone, more commanding, and so on (all this sounds like a good thing, but there’s more nuance to it, and women weren’t exactly free to live the lives they wanted to). In some ways I have notice this, in older generations, where hearing the women swear and talk about “dirty things” is rather common. We do swear more in the north, overall.

   And to end this, even the North is not one monolithic cultural entity, even though I’ve lumped it all as if it were. People from Porto, Minho, Trás-os-Montes see themselves differently.

4. Culture wise there is a lot of differences between the different provinces of the Netherlands.

   Most people would say that the people in the randstad (Noord Holland, Zuid Holland and Utrecht) are a bit uptight and a bit more rude in general. Whereas the people in the south (Brabant and Limburg) are a bit more jovial.

   Though this is coming from somebody who is from the south, so take it with a grain of salt.

   There is also a big difference in dialects, even between neighbouring cities.

   Also holidays can be different, because in the south we actually celebrate carnaval, which is full of traditions and activities, but people from the north think it is only drinking, so if they visit during that period, it is super easy to pick them out.

5. Hm we are rich, we have by far the best food and we are considered stingy, greedy and unintelligible by our fellow Germans. Besides obvious cultural similarities our dialect also sounds similar to swiss German. So yeah Swabia/Württemberg is in many ways similar to Switzerland.

6. I grew up in the Dutch [Bible Belt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_Belt_%28Netherlands%29), which is a loosely connected strip of land through the country that is still way more religious (primarily Calvinist/Reformed Protestants) compared to the rest of the country. Genuinely was quite a big culture shock when I went to a school outside of the belt for the first time.

7. Meh my region is a bit weird by spanish standards, but not really that interesting. to understand why you may need some context.

   *I was in the centre, everyone turning around me. Now they’ve disbanded and i’m alone turning. The peoples become nations. I’m not gonna be any lesser. Madrid one, free, strong etc.* That’s a rough translation of how our hymn starts (not that anyone knows about It)

   Ignoring the actively sarcastic tone (the whole hymn IS downright a pun and utterly hilarious/cringe/disrespectful), this sets one of the main concepts about Madrid. It is the capital and…**that’s about It** 😅

   Madrid IS not an old city, or the craddle of culture. When It was chosen as capital in 1561 It was a medium sized city among many others. There’s this theory that It was actually chosen for Its hunting grounds!

   So…Madrid IS heavily linked with the royalty, the government…and not much else. We barely have a few regional dishes and a dialect 🤷‍♂️.

   THAT is actually pretty unusual for Spain. Our autonomous communities tend to have highly distinct and well defined cultural traditions.

   The whole idea behind the autonomies was to give more autonomy to the nations in Spain (Catalonia, basque country, Galicia, etc). It kind of went a bit loose (very soon) with the introduction of Andalusia, but Madrid sets a REAAAALLY low bar.

   So what more? Well…

   Madrid is metropolitan and quite culturally diverse, with an important latin american population. It’s people are said to be Self-important, a bit hectic and rude. Most have shallow roots in the region, not going further than 3 generations.

   **At the end of the day Madrid is, as history coroborates, just a chunk of Castille that Split off to “not be any lesser”**

8. I grew up very close to the German border and always thought the whole rural cow and yodeling-Switzerland is long gone and more of a cliché until I met my girlfriend from central Switzerland. Flag throwing, Swiss wrestling, yodeling and the whole postcard Swiss stuff are just not that big of a thing in the region I come from, but I see it a lot when we visit central Switzerland.

9. In the town I grew up, the migrant workers community was Americans. Over 3,000 of the 28,000 residents were Americans. Normally, that would be Turks, Moroccans or people from the former Dutch colonies.

   The reason was the large amount of diplomatic and fossil fuel jobs in the region and the existence of the American School. Most of the families stayed, though, so they were migrants, not expats.

10. Hmm, Amsterdam – definitely feels more international, cosmopolitan, English-speaking, and tourist-ridden than the rest of the country. Also, likely, as a result of that last point, there are way more (cannabis) coffeeshops here than elsewhere.

    Even within Randstad, Amsterdam distinguishes itself from the other cities with these metrics, IMHO. In short, Amsterdam is as much a world city as it is a Dutch city.

    Oh, since drinking terminology was brought up elsewhere ITT. In Amsterdam if you order a 25 cl glas of the house pils/lager on tap, it’s called a *vaasje* (little glass/vase) whereas in other parts of the country they might call it (ironically) an *Amsterdammertje* (lit. little Amsterdammer) or even – in Limburg – *randje* which maybe best translates to “little rim” in this case (as in the rim/lip of the glass itself) (?)

11. Even in a small country like The Netherlands there are definitely regional differences. There are religious differences (the south being mostly Catholic, while the rest is predominantly Protestant), differences in dialect spoken or cultural habits. Various holidays are common in one part of the country while non existent in others. Carnaval is one of them. But another holiday is Saint Martins Day. I grew up in an area where we did celebrate this. Kids would go from house to house (similar to Halloween) only not dressing in a costume but they carry lanterns and singing a song and get a candy as a reward. In many other parts of the country this isn’t a thing.

12. Well in Sweden, south speaks with a more Danish Intonation and the North with a more Finnish, we still speak Swedish, it just the rhythm changes, some people say the North sings compared to the south when speaking.

    In the north we have meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, different from standard Finnish. We have also 3 type of Sami languages because part of the north is Sápmi ( Sami land) in the North.

    In the South you have island called Gotland that speaks Gotländska, can be hard for Swedes to understand, it is Swedish but weird. Gutemål is even worse, that is the old form.

    You eat reindeer in the north and goose in the south and in the middle we are confused.

13. My home region of Scania in southernmost Sweden differs from the rest of the country in quite a lot of ways.

    First of all, the original inhabitants of Scania were Danes, not Swedes. Scania was a core part of the Kingdom of Denmark for well over half a millennia and didn’t come under Swedish control until the mid 17th century, and it took well into the 18th century before the province became a truly integrated part of Sweden – this after several wars and invasions and a long and very brutal process of ”Swedification” of the Scanian population. For this reason, Scania still has quite a lot of features in common with Denmark, even if a lot of them have been eroded with time and effort.

    For example, the traditional Scanian dialect is actually an East Danish dialect – quite similar to that which is still spoken on the Danish island of Bornholm. And although what most people in Scania speak today is a lot more like standard Swedish, we do still have some Danish features in our accent. Besides a few Danish words lingering on, we also use guttural r-sounds like Danish, as well as a lot of diphthongs, and have an intonation that is more similar to Danish or German, and a bit of a drawl actually somewhat similar to that of the southern US – and this is all in quite a bit of contrast to the much softer and more sing-songy sound of standard Swedish.

    In terms of architecture, Scania has quite a lot of historical half-timbered houses similar to those in Denmark and central Europe rather than the red wooden cottages that are emblematic for much of the rest of Sweden.

    Traditional Scanian food is similar to traditional Danish food as well, with a lot of cheese, butter, potatoes and pork – while famous Swedish food items such as meatballs and surströmming are not very traditional in Scania at all.

    In sports, handball is a quite a popular sport in Scania just like in Denmark, while it is a smaller sport in most of Sweden. On the other hand though, ice hockey is very popular in Scania as well – so there we have more in common with the rest of Sweden than with Denmark.

    Also, one of the most famous Danes of all time – the eccentric 16th century astronomer Tycho Brahe was actually Scanian – he was born at Knutstorp Castle in Scania and had his observatory and private palace at the Scanian island of Hven.

    And although geography is perhaps not culture per say, it might still be worth mentioning here, since one of Scania’s most defining features are the very large agricultural plains with very fertile soils and high crop yields. This is also very similar to Denmark – while most of the rest of Sweden is dominated by forests with poor, rocky soils. And where we do have forests in Scania, they are mostly forests of beech and oak trees like in Denmark – not spruce and pine like in most of Sweden.

    Scania is a bit of a borderland when it comes to nature and wildlife as well though, as while southern Scania is similar to Denmark and home to animals like white stork, red kite, golden oriole and tree frog, northern Scania is more similar to the rest of Sweden and is home to moose, wolf, lynx and capercaillie. This transitional zone through Scania between Danish and Swedish nature and wildlife is known scientifically as the Tornquist zone.

    Just like Denmark, much of Scania is also relatively flat, and even if our highest point at 211 metres towers over Denmark’s highest point of 171 metres, it’s quite a way from Sweden’s highest point at more than 2,100 metres.

    Finally, population density wise, Scania is also very similar to the Denmark, with 138 inhabitants/sq km in Denmark and 128 inhabitants/sq km in Scania – but only 25 inhabitants/sq km in Sweden.

    So, in sum, Scania really is an odd mix of Swedish and Danish – and this fact is even reflected in our regional flag – which has a golden cross like the Swedish flag on a red background like the Danish flag.

14. I would say that there are huge nuisances between the regions/woivodeiships (or however the frick you spell that in English) but most people dont seem to realize. They focus more on the differences between eastern and western Poland. However I come from Podlaskie, which is considered to be very conservative and poor but I grew up on the border with Lithuania and we are much more influenced by the culture than let’s say the people from the south of my region who are more influenced by Catholic but also the muslim/orthodox communities.

    Silesia is also a very interested topic but I never lived there or been there for longer that’s 3 days so I can’t say much.

    In the other

15. I live in the capital city of a small, semi-remote country with a large rural population. As you can imagine, attitudes, lifestyles, work, general demographics, and access to arts and culture are very different to those in Lapland, for example.

    Regional differences in food and drink are probably bigger in terms of Helsinki having an international scene than any differences in local dishes. (If that makes sense?)

16. I grew up in Savoy, near Geneva. It’s only when I moved up to Pau (south-west) that I noticed that we use a lot of different words, and that we have a kind of countryside/mountaineer accent.

    For example for a “normal” french sentence, most people will say :

    “Hey! Tu pourrais nettoyer un peu. Il y a tellement de bordel que tu vas t’empétrer dedans. Tiens, une serpillère”.

    (“Hey! You could clean up a bit. There’s so much mess you’re going to get caught up in. Here’s a mop”) .

    In my village (at least) we say ” Adieu! Dis voir, t’pourrais poutser un peu. Y’a tell’ment d’ch’ni qu’tu va t’encoubler dans les catelles. Tiens, une panosse”

    Or a mix of both sentences.

    Also we share a lot of words with the French speaking swiss and the French ppl of Franche-Comté. We use the good numbers : vingT, septante, huitante, nonante instead of soixante-dix, quatre-vingt, etc.

    And since we quit a monarchy and joined France lately, we still have our castles. Fun fact : most western swiss castles were actually built by the house of Savoy. Like the Chillon castle.

    In winter, every Wednesday’s afternoon we have snow classes.

    Every year we have a procession with cows and farmers through Annecy, the “Désalpe”, just like in Switzerland, but you can find something similar with sheeps in the other mountainous areas.

    Oh and we have some events like bread and cider celebration (kind of hay day fest with old tractors, old games… Similar to the ones in Brittany) and a cow fight, the “Combats de reines” because a special cow bred fight every spring in the pastures. That event is also “celebrated” in Valais🇨🇭 and in the Aosta Valley🇮🇹

    – people from the northern parts of the country are a bit cold and frankly, while the southerners are way more open but sometimes a bit hypocritical.

17. The North East is one of the strongest areas for Scots usage in day-to-day life.

    It’s probably got the largest area of open farmland in the country, so rural life is different to other parts of the country. Traditional music is still pretty strong in the rural parts of the North East, and a lot of the songs seem to focus on farming life (known as bothy ballads, because they were sung by itinerant farm workers in their accomodation – the bothies – to entertain themselves).

    The main city only has one football team, so the notion of a tribal divide along religious lines is a very ugly and alien concept to most people in the North East.

18. I come from an oversea territories La Réunion between Madagascar and Mauritius so the differences are even larger than between other regions of mainland France.

    For cuisine : the main food is rice, with lots of creole, Chinese and Indian food.

    The languages spoken are both french and creole réunionnais with some world from old french, it’s an oral language so the written words are freestyle oiseau (bird) can be written oizo, oiso, wazo even

    People are more chill, we can say bonjour to someone in the street, people can talk to you just to ask how are you, as I live in Paris where everyone want something from you it’s refreshing to come back

    And lot of other differences

19. us in merseyside/the north west say and do a lot of things that the rest of england find weird/dont understand. one i didnt realise until i started using reddit was that we use a lot of words that the rest of the country assume is american. for example, here your ‘trousers’ are called pants, pants arent boxers/knickers lmao. kinda annoying how english redditors are insistent that this is because we specifically have been ‘americanised’ when in reality all the old people (including my grandad) say the the exact same and always have.