The culture of Texas is very diverse, influenced by tremendous waves of migration out of the American North and West, in contrast to its eastern neighbors in the Deep South. It includes the regionalisms and distinct cultural identities of German Texan, Tejanos, Cajuns, Irish, African American, and White Southern enclaves established before the republic era and admission to statehood.
Texans will tend to acknowledge the five major regions, East Texas, Central Texas, North Texas, South Texas, and West Texas as regions within the state defined by urban centers, and differing cultural norms. The Texas Triangle, anchored by Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio, is an interstate corridor between the three major Texan cities closest to the geographic center, that anchor three different cultural regions of the state.
Texas has the most farms and the highest acreage in the United States. The state is ranked No. 1 for revenue generated from total livestock and livestock products. It is ranked No. 2 for total agricultural revenue, behind California.[2] At $7.4 billion or 56.7 percent of Texas's annual agricultural cash receipts, beef cattle production represents the largest single segment of Texas agriculture. This is followed by cotton at $1.9 billion (14.6 percent), greenhouse/nursery at $1.5 billion (11.4 percent), broiler chickens at $1.3 billion (10 percent), and dairy products at $947 million (7.3 percent).[3]
Texas leads the nation in the production of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, wool, mohair and hay.[3] The state also leads the nation in production of cotton which is the number one crop grown in the state in terms of value.[2][4][5] The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and produce.[2]
Texas has a strong ranching tradition which has had significant influence on American cowboy culture, particularly in rodeo. Texas has made a strong mark on national and international pop culture. The entire state is strongly associated with the image of the cowboy shown in westerns and in country western music. The state's numerous oil tycoons are also a popular pop culture topic as seen in the hit TV series Dallas.[6][7]
Rodeo
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In 1997, House Concurrent Resolution No. 21 was adopted by the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas, declaring rodeo as the official sport of Texas.[8] The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the world's largest known rodeo. It is held over 20 days, from late February through early March. The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at NRG Park for a barbecue cook-off. The rodeo includes typical rodeo events, as well as, concert performances from major artists, and carnival rides. The Fort Worth Livestock Show and Rodeo last three weeks in late January and early February. It has many traditional rodeos, but also a cowboy rodeo, and a Mexican rodeo in recent years, that both have large fan bases.[citation needed]
State Fair
Big Tex, the mascot of the State Fair of Texas since 1952
In Norway, "Texas" is used as slang for something chaotic and uncontrolled, as influenced from popular Norwegian depictions of cowboy culture and Western literature associated with Texas. "Der var helt texas! (That was totally texas!)" has mostly pejorative connotations but can also refer to a party out of control or a runaway success.[9]
Folklore of Texas
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Texas has a considerable independent body of folklore, primarily in connection with its historical ranching and cowboy cultures, the American Old West, and the Texas War of Independence. The Texas Folklore Society is the second-oldest folklore organization continually functioning in the United States. Many well-known figures and stories in American folklore are associated with Texas:
The Lone Star State has helped popularize this musical style throughout the world and made the Texas cowboy an international icon that would forever be identified with country music. Although many people may think of country music when they think of the Lone Star State, Texas actually encompasses a wide variety of ethnic musical genres and regional styles.[11]
Texas is well known for its love of football at all levels. Watching football is a dominant leisure activity across the state, and autumn weekends are filled with high school games on Friday nights, NCAA and other college games on Saturdays (Texas' 12 top-level or "FBS" schools are more than any other state), and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans on Sundays. Texas high school football fans are famously passionate, and the various teams often become the obsessive pride of the towns they represent. This phenomenon was documented in the 1990 book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream and its popular film and television adaptations. School districts in Texas are sometimes criticized for the amount of money spent on their sports programs and facilities; for example, the Allen Independent School District spent $60 million to open Eagle Stadium in 2012, only to see it closed in 2014 due to structural problems.[12] However, this spending is often driven by local residents—the Allen stadium was built using funds from a publicly approved bond issue.[13]
Baseball is also very popular in Texas. In Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros claim followers across roughly equal territories, as North Texas, West Texas, and Panhandle residents are largely Rangers fans, while Southeast Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas are predominantly inhabited by Astros fans. Minor league baseball is also well-attended, with three teams in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and five in the Double-A Texas League.
Rodeo is the official sport of Texas; see § Rodeo for more information.
Media
Media devoted to Texas culture include Texas Monthly, a monthly magazine headquartered in Austin that takes as its premise the idea that Texas began as a distinctive place and remains so. It publishes articles on all things culturally Texan, with past pieces on such topics as Texas politicians, the Texas Rangers, Texas cuisine, and true crime incidents in Texas. In 2013, the magazine established a food writing position entirely devoted to barbecue.
Cuisine
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Important aspects of Texas cuisine include Texas barbecue and the local fusion of Southern, Mexican, American, and Southwestern cuisines called Tex-Mex cuisine.
Other
The Texas Folklife Festival is an annual event sponsored by the University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute of Texan Cultures celebrating the many ethnicities represented in the population of the state of Texas. Thousands attend the three-day event each year, which features food, crafts, music, and dances from ethnic groups that immigrated to Texas.
A 2015 report by non-profit organization Mission: Readiness found that 73% of military-aged youth in Texas were physically ineligible for military service due to issues with obesity and ill-health, a rate much higher than the national average.[15]
^Carmack, Liz (June 21, 2013). "The Legacy of 'King Cotton'". County. Texas Association of Counties. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
^Dallas (Drama, Romance), Larry Hagman, Ken Kercheval, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Lorimar Productions, Lorimar Telepictures, Lorimar Television, April 2, 1978, retrieved December 28, 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)