Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Would you guess that this was in Brazil?



I never thought that I would see this in Brazil…..

Your eyes are not deceiving you, they are in Southern Belle dresses and Confederate uniforms. They are dancing a dance that was supposed to have been popular in the 1800’s. I don’t think you can tell, but they are dancing on a confederate flag painted on the floor. This was a confederate festival that we went to in Santa Barbara which is about an hour outside of Campinas. This is to celebrate their history! Yes, THEIR history. After the civil war in the USA, there were Southern families who moved to Brazil. They were offered land in Brazil for $.22 per acre and slavery was still legal. So, many families came here and began to raise sugar cane, corn, watermelons and other crops. It was the funniest thing to stand there and here songs like Dixie, Yellow Rose of Texas and Yankee Doodle Dandy (all in English), but all the language spoken around us was Portuguese. There is a group of Confederate Sons and Daughters that take yearly trips back to the South to show kids and grandkids where their ancestors came from. They are also trying to keep the Southern English alive and teach that to their children as well. We didn’t meet any of those people, but I wish we could have. I was interested in hearing the Southern English that they would speak, but maybe next time.

There is a cemetery here where the original group is buried and to be buried in this cemetery you must be a descendant of one of them. It was very interesting to walk around the cemetery and read the tombstones. Preston found it very interesting and we had to pull him away.

They served some Southern food such as fried chicken and biscuits, but no sweet tea and Kati said that should be a sin.

All in all, it was a very neat time. Even though we really don’t have much in common, it was just neat to think about the heritage that they were celebrating and the fact that it is the same heritage that we have.

Interesting, huh?

3 comments:

Campbell Dunson said...

That sounds fascinating. . .well in sort of a surreal, bizarre, creepy way .
JK :)

Michael said...

I agree with cam, very cool but kinda creepy. I did not know that there are red-neck brazilians. Y'all (southern language) should introduce them to sweet tea so it can be a real southern celebration.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.