Absence and longing in the context of love and the symbolic meaning of saudade and čežnja in Portuguese and Serbian culture

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contemplate and compare the concepts absence and longing (saudade) and its Serbian linguistic equivalent čežnja in the two respective cultures, focusing the meaning of these two concepts first in the folk oral love poetry. In a further analysis, this work focuses the deeper and a more philosophical interpretation of the specific idea of longing in the culture of these two European peoples and in their way of thinking, living and expression of emotions. The motifs for absence in a love song are different: geographical distance, going to a war (sea navigation), long and tiring work, away from the beloved one, the interference of parents or third parts in a relationship, disaffection, inconstant feelings. Therefore, the complex feeling of longing (saudade, čežnja) can be experienced and understood in different ways: as a test of love, a beginning of doubt, a detection of problems, a strong emotion of pain, missing, suffering, proof of love, loyalty and fidelity. It will also be seen how the feeling of longing, observed from social, psychological or religious perspectives modeled the character and spirituality of the Portuguese and the Serbs.