Descendants of European immigrants in southern Brazil as participants and heads of Afro-Brazilian religious centres.

This article is about a unique case of assimilation: the entry of descendants of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century European immigrants to southern Brazil into Afro-Brazilian religious groups, some as heads of their own centres. The discussion is placed within the framework of the contemporary multiculturalist debate over assimilation. The emigration of Europeans to rural southern Brazil is summarized. African slaves are shown to have been established - with their syncretized Afro-Catholic religions - in the incipient urban centres. The transformation of Brazilian society in the second half of the twentieth century is examined focusing on 1) the massive growth of the population and 2) its urbanization. The difficulties faced by the migrants to the cities and their descendants is discussed. Umbanda, a secondary religious syncretism of the Afro-Catholic tradition with European Spiritism, is shown to provide help to those in need as it competes with Catholicism and other religions for converts. Large numbers of Brazilians have converted to Umbanda, with some of them later turning to the more 'African' Candomblé, Batuque, etc. Cases of European immigrants who joined Umbanda and Batuque centres in Porto Alegre are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]