ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interplay between individuals and their culture and how culture can affect the development of individual identity. It analyzes Brazil and the symbols and culture complexes that belong to the country's history. Individuals are always subject to the influence of cultural complexes and symbols. Over 60 different peoples have migrated to Brazil since the arrival of the Portuguese, and together these make up a highly complex multiracial society with unique characteristics, even compared to Latin American brothers. The indigenous population, the original Brazilians, suffered what Leonardo Boff called a truly Latin American holocaust. In order to discover the cultural identity of a nation, it is essential that consider its history and memory. Brazilian psychologist José Oswaldo de Meira Penna, citing the work of Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, organized the myths surrounding the origins of Brazil into three main categories: the myth of paradise on earth, the myth of the green inferno, and the myth of Eldorado.
