Saudade: The essence of the Portuguese soul!

The word "saudade" is unique in the world vocabulary, that is, no matter how hard you try in no language has a translation. It is a linguistic jewel that rewards the Portuguese language, a unique and profound feeling that transcends a simple translation. By thinking about its meaning, we understand the Portuguese soul and the cultural richness of our country.
When we look it up in the dictionary, "saudade" means "grateful memory of an absent person, of a past moment or of something that someone is deprived of", that is, melancholic or nostalgic desire for a person, place or things, which are far away, either in space or in time. It's a complex emotion, a mix of nostalgia for something that has already happened, but that remains very real in our feelings, which is why it is so difficult to translate.
But to better understand this feeling, we have to go back a few years ago. At the time of the Discoveries, when Portuguese navigators set out on long journeys, leaving behind their families and their homeland. The longing was the constant company, a painful but at the same time good and soothing memory, of everything they had left and loved. A mixture of something good and bad at the same time, which hurts, squeezes the heart and there are those who say that it can even kill.
But "saudade" is not just a word, it comes much further than that, it is an experience lived and expressed in different ways in Portuguese culture. From fado, melancholic music that captures the essence of saudade, to the poetry of Fernando Pessoa, this emotion is present and intertwined in many artistic expressions in our country.
Saudade is not exclusive to epic moments in history, it is used daily in the daily life of the Portuguese. We miss a friend who will live far away, we miss our school days, we miss a dear family member who is no longer with us, this word is present in the daily lives of all of us and is used almost daily.  
This word that is so ours is a mark of a country's identity, it is a bridge between the past and the present, it is cultural identity.


Author: Cláudia Ferreira