Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Roots of Saudade
Scholars are unable to pinpoint exactly when the term '
saudade
' first arose. Some trace it
back to the grand voyages during the Age of Discoveries, when sailors, captains and ex-
plorers spent many months out at sea, and gave voice to the longing for the lives they left
behind. Yet even before the epic sea voyages across the ocean, Portugal was a nation of
seafarers, and
saudade
probably arose from those on terra firma - the women who longed
for the men who spent endless days out at sea, some of whom never returned.
Goa, India, still has vestiges of its Portuguese colonial past. In Margão, on the street named 'Rua das
Saudades', there are Christian and Muslim cemeteries and a Hindu cremation ground.
Naturally, emigration is also deeply linked to
saudade
. Long one of Europe's poorest
peoples, the Portuguese were often driven by hardship to seek better lives abroad. Until re-
cently, this usually meant the men leaving behind their families to travel to northern Europe
or America to find work. Families sometimes waited years before being reunited, with
emigrants experiencing years of painful longing for their homeland - for the familiar faces,
the food and village life. Many did eventually return, but of course things had changed and
so
saudade
reappeared, this time in the form of longing for the way things were in the past.
In Brazil, 30 January is set aside as the
Dia de Saudade
(Saudade Day). It's a fine day to engage in a bit of
nostalgic longing for past lovers, distant homelands and better days.
