Que Saudade!

How are you feeling today? Are you experiencing a faint longing for anything? Is your heart a little heavy? Do you feel listless and melancholic? Well you should do, and not just because it’s a Monday. Today, 30th January, is Dia da Saudade. You didn’t know? Didn’t you see the Brazilian Google Doodle today? For those of you who missed it, here it is:

You may find this hard to believe, but I’ve had no formal training. This is natural, raw, diamond-in-the-rough, talent…

OK, so Eat Rio and Google haven’t really teamed up (well, in a way, I teamed up with them, but that makes it a rather one-sided arrangement doesn’t it?). I made this myself as apparently Google forgot to check their calendar today.

Saudade (sounds like sau-DADGE) is an interesting word. If I had to attempt to explain it in just a couple of words I would say “melancholic longing”. They say it is unique to Galician-Portuguese which I find strange as it’s quite a useful term – I guess the rest of us just have to use several words in combination, perhaps coupled with a sad, misty-eyed look and a sigh.

It is often used to convey homesickness. I remember posting a video of carnival on facebook last year and several Brazilians, who were suffering a miserable winter in England, commented to say “Que Saudade…”. You can also have saudade for people, for your whole family or even for food.

It’s a term that is impossible to miss if you spend any time in Brazil. People regularly comment that they have saudade of/for something; you hear about it in poetry and songs (a lot); it is even the subject of paintings.

Saudade by Almeida Júnior (1899). Sigh…

Perhaps I am getting a bit carried away here, but I think saudade is an important part of being Brazilian.  It’s ironic that Brazilians are so famed for being happy, party people (OK, that’s a gross stereotype, but still) whilst at the same time they seem almost obsessed with saudade. I’m often surprised, when I ask for a translation of a particularly cheery sounding song, how crushingly sad the lyrics often are. Brazilians seem to revel in this sweet sorrow and even feed off it. In fact my Brazilian source reminds me that saudade isn’t necessarily 100% sad and can in fact be an enjoyable, bitter-sweet feeling of nostalgia.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favour of saudade. It’s something I can really identify with as I am often struck with feelings of sad longing for things I can’t have (the simplicity of childhood, grandparents who have gone, stop me before I start crying!). And sometimes it’s fun to be miserable isn’t it? As I recall, most teenagers spend a huge amount of their time wallowing in misery and secretly enjoying it.

I’ll leave you with João Gilberto singing the classic Tom Jobim song, Chega de Saudade. Feel free to cry whilst you listen, but afterwards that let’s all try to cheer up a bit shall we? It’s nearly time for carnival!!!