Adam WordsmithEVERY year on January 30, Brazil marks Dia da Saudade, the day of saudade. Saudade carries centuries of longing, lost lives and the sweet sadness of Portuguese sailors within its sound. Grammatically, it is a noun: one can have saudade or feel saudade, but one cannot do it. Saudade itself, however, remains paradoxical, a feeling where absence becomes a vivid form of presence. Saudade Day, therefore, is reflective rather than gloomy.