If you come to Curaçao to do an internship or to work, it is useful to read about the culture on Curaçao beforehand. Curaçao belongs to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but you will find many influences from other cultures here. This also makes Curaçao so unique and we are sure that you will feel right at home here.
Who is the Curaçaoan?
Curaçao has about 150,000 registered inhabitants. Curaçao has very diverse population groups. The majority are Creole. These are people of mixed African and European descent who are considered indigenous. In addition, there are also many Dutch, Chinese, Lebanese, Portuguese, Surinamese, Venezuelans, British West Indians, Dominicans, Haitians and Colombians. About 110 different cultures live on Curaçao!
The language on Curaçao
For a long time, Dutch was the only official language, but since 2007 Papiamentu and Dutch are joint official languages. Papiamento is also the native language of most native Curaçaoans. In addition to these languages, Spanish and English are also spoken. The vast majority of Curaçaoans master all the aforementioned languages to a greater or lesser extent, but there are also foreigners who speak other languages such as French, Arabic, Haitian, Portuguese and, to a lesser extent, Chinese. According to a recent census, the most spoken home language for 73% of the population was Papiamento, for 9% Spanish, for 8% English and for 8% Dutch and 2% another language. Do you want a little bit learn Papiamentu before you come to Curacao to do an internship or work? We have the basis for you so that you can already have a nice conversation!
The flag of Curacao
The flag of Curaçao is of course nice and tropical blue with a yellow stripe and two white stars at the top. The big star stands for Curaçao and the small one for Klein Curaçao. The blue represents the sky and the sea, separated by a yellow sunbeam.
The flag was adopted on July 2, 1984. Since then, the “Dia di bandera” has been celebrated on July 2. This is also an official holiday in Curaçao.
Believe in Curacao
The majority of the population on Curaçao is Roman Catholic. In addition, you also have many Jehovah's Witnesses and you will find Protestants, Jews and Muslims in small numbers. So faith is important and most people go to church. This also produces beautiful churches and these certainly belong to the culture of Curaçao.
Of course there are many more characteristics that belong to the culture of Curaçao. An important thing that we should not forget is that everything here is nice and slow. No one rushes and pretends they have all the time. Okay, that doesn't apply to traffic because then they can be fast and impatient. So if you need to arrange something later, don't rush because they certainly don't do that here!
