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Social etiquette in Brazil


Social etiquette in Brazil

  • Cheek-kissing is very common in Brazil, among women and between women and men. When two women, or opposite sexes first meet, it is not uncommon to kiss. Two men WILL shake hands. Kissing another mens cheek is extremely bizarre for brazilian standards (unless in father-son relationships). Kissing is suitable for informal ocasions, used to introduce yourself or being acquainted, especially to young people. Hand shaking is more appropriate for formal ocasions or between women and men when no form of intimacy is intended. Trying to shake hands when offered a kiss will be considered odd, but never rude. However, to clearly refuse a kiss is a sign of disdain.
  • When people first meet, they will kiss one (São Paulo), two (Rio de Janeiro) or three times (Florianópolis), depending on where you are, alternating right and left cheeks. Observe that while doing this you should not kiss on the cheeks (like in Russia) but actually only touch cheeks and make kiss sound while kissing the air, placing your lips on a strangers cheek is a clearly sign of sexual interest.
  • In Brazil showers are long and frequent. In fact Brazil is the only country that rivals Japan in the amount of time people spend cleaning themselves
  • Many Brazilians can dance and Brazilians are usually at ease with their own bodies. While talking, they may stand closer to each other than the regular North American or Northern European, and also tend to touch each other more, e.g. on the shoulder or arm, hugs etc.
  • Brazilian like to drink, especially (very) cold beer (in pubs and in hot weather) and wine (in restaurants or in the winter). However to get drunk, even in a pub, is considered very unsuitable unless you are with very good friends and everybody is as drunk as you. People go to pubs to talk, flir and tell jokes, not essentially to drink.

  • The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Brazil


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    Brazil Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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