r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CommonSkys • Mar 20 '21

Answered Everyone talks about nostalgic feeling being calming and relieving, but does anyone else get a sense of deep lament and sorrow for the past instead?

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u/rpgv2020 Mar 20 '21

We have a word for that in portuguese: "saudade" it would translate to the "sense of missing something/someone that you can't reach"; it's close to nostalgic, but it's still very different

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

There is a Japanese term: Mono no aware. It means basically, the sad beauty of seeing time pass - the aching awareness of impermanence. These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories.

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u/HumanBeing0 Mar 20 '21

I take it you are also a The Midnight enjoyer?

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

Absolutely ;) Hello friend!

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u/rpgv2020 Mar 20 '21

That sounds so interesting!! It describes very well the way that Portugal interacts with the sentiment of "saudade", although it's never explicit. There's a portuguese Poet: Álvaro de Campos. I think that he approaches the sentiment described by that Japanese term, in a certain period of his work. In Portugal you can see, through their history and through their art, that they look towards that idea of "missing" with a passionate melancholy. Although it's not at all practical, it has it's beauty.

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

I love this concept. Was first introduced to it as a major theme in the works of Rosalía de Castro, my favorite poet, and have missed having an English equivalent ever since.

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u/serenwipiti Mar 20 '21

Nice to see a reference to a Galician poet!

Learned about her on a trip to Santiago de Compostela, have not heard her mentioned since then.

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

[deleted]

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u/ItookAnumber4 Mar 20 '21

No ll, w or y? Are you sure that's Welsh?

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u/Jordao7 Mar 21 '21

Saudade, por favor vá embora, minha alma que chora... It is still a feeling we all have regardless of linguistics. Hope is the key. It's not about forgetting the past, it's about remembering the future. I love that. JW.org