(27 Apr 2015) The sights, sounds and smells of the American South came to the Brazilian town of Santa Barbara d'Oeste on Sunday as descendants of Confederate migrants celebrated the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War.
Thousands of people from the area, in Brazil's southeastern Sao Paulo state, turn out every year for the annual "Confederates Party" to celebrate their ancestry with country music, square dancing and, of course, barbeque.
The rural Brazilian town, located around 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometres) south of the South, was colonised from 1865 to around 1875 by families fleeing Reconstruction, enticed by offers of land grants from the Brazilian government.
"It's not about commemorating what happened in The United States but celebrating the land that welcomed us, that gave us an opportunity to bring up our families," explained organiser Roberto Cullen Dellapiazza.
American visitors Rex and Gwen Gray, Civil War buffs who made the trip to Brazil from their home in Tucumcari, New Mexico, found out about the event on the internet.
"It was really curious, so I started looking some more and reading about it, it was just incredible I couldn't believe it," said Gwen Gray, a 69-year-old retiree originally from Greeneville, Tennessee.
The site of the party abuts the "Cemiterio dos Americanos," or "American Cemetery," which began as the resting place of the wife and two daughters of one of the first Confederados and still serves their descendants today.
Difficult conditions in Brazil took their toll on the migrants, with many succumbing to tropical diseases, while others were felled by sheer exhaustion.
About half gave up and returned to the US.
Those who stayed ended up assimilating into Brazilian society, and very few of the 'Confederados'' descendants speak English today.
"I went (to The US) this year, but I went to Orlando where everybody goes," said Avani Rovagnelli, whose great-great-grandparents migrated to Brazil from Virginia. "But I want to go to the place where the people of the South (of US) came from, I hope to go there."
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