DOMINICAN IDENTITY AND CREED

WHAT IS A DOMINICAN AND WHICH ARE THE DOMINICAN BELIEVES

A literature paper homework about Dominican Identity

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by DONATELLO BRUNO  / November 30, 2010

Being Dominican is not being born by accident in an island called Hispaniola, it is to have a conviction of patriotic service and not allow our flag, symbol of ouridentity, to be disrespected. We can represent our identity in what we believe with these qualities: we have desire for progress, courage, opposition to foreign invasions, military readiness for battle, desire to be free and the rejection of foreign domination over our land. We can describe Dominicans as peaceful, simple and quite. Wanting to live in peace and not wanting battles of any armed conflict. The Dominican is noble, honest, respectful, caring and communicative. He is dedicated to serve and to work to family and to God. Likes to share everything he has with those who have nothing.

We come from “Quisqueya”, which is the name given by the aboriginals, the “Tainos”. Quisqueya is brave and always will know how to be free. We have an opposition to foreign intervention. We crushed the invading forces and we were filled with glory. This fills the nation with pride.

Dominicans are brave and strong. We are launched on war to win or die and thus manages to break the chains of slavery.

Our thought is nationalist, democratic and progressive. Qualities we see from Juan Pablo Duarte and the Trinitarians. In our main highlights a desire as I said before: to be free or die.

Our National Anthem highlights our patriotism, the value of the Dominican people, their courage and its more radical desire is to live in freedom.

Through the years we have had to emigrate for different reasons, yet we remain Dominicans.

Our National Anthem is a glorious singing and, therefore, now narrates the glories of the Dominican people. This National Anthem and the glories that go hand in hand recount the Dominican coat of arms, which appears on our national flag. This is the only shield in the entire world that has an open Bible, on the verse 32, chapter 8 of John’s Gospel: “You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32)

The words we see in our seal are “God, Motherland and Freedom”. But why do we see “God” as the first word?

The word “Dominicano” in Spanish, in the dictionary of Royal Spanish Academy of Language in page #773, means: Son of God. So, as Dominicans we have God as the most important thing because we are Sons of God.

Our identity is the legacy of those great men from our small island that changed the course of humanity.

Three types of changes involved in this constant flow of identity are the institutional, the economic and cultural changes in us.

A large component of the traditional Dominican identity, especially in rural areas, is the “machismo” and female submission.

We believe today in a political system called democracy, which assumes that citizenship are people who play a leading role and gain opportunities for participation that did not exist before.

There are many other components of our identity but in this document I was based in the most important ones, and I wanted to answer 4 very important questions:

1. What is a Dominican?

1. How we can represent our identity?

1. Which were our most important legacies?

1. Which are the Dominican believes?