Saudade Day in Brazil Date in the current year: January 30, 2024

Saudade can be described as a constant feeling of absence and longing, the sadness of something or someone that’s missing, and the nostalgic yearning for the return of that now gone. It is sometimes referred to as the “love that remains” after someone is gone. Although saudade offers carries an acknowledgment that the object of longing might never return, it isn’t entirely sad. It is a complex combination of happiness for having experienced the feeling and sadness for missing.

The word “saudade” in Portuguese and Galician derives from the same Latin root as the word “solitudo” (solitude). It has no direct translation into English, although the term missingness is sometimes described as the closest possible analog. In music, saudade is commonly expressed in the music genre named fado, which is infused with a sentiment of melancholia and resignation. The most famous song of the Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora is titled “Sodade”, which is the Creole variant of saudade.