THE SWALLOW
The swallow (andorinha, in Portuguese) is a symbol of Portugal so subtly synonymous with the culture that travelers may not even notice it. Swallows hang out in Portugal for some of the same reasons humans do: warm weather and great food. When the chill sets in and insects begin to run thin, they head farther south. While shops tout cork coasters and bottles of port, many tourists likely pass by what may be the country’s most sentimental memento: a ceramic swallow. Locals gift the pottery birds for weddings, anniversaries, housewarmings—and going-away presents. “The swallow is connected to a lot of things that are dear to us,” explains a local archaeologist. The birds’ qualities—they mate for life and raise their chicks together—make it a shoo-in as a nostalgic symbol.
“They don’t leave the nest until all of the babies do,” he says. “And they always return.”
That connection to “the nest”—to a home or a homeland—is so important in Portuguese culture that there is a word for it: saudade.
The archaeologist explains the concept is best described as that feeling of melancholic connection you get when you taste your grandmother’s cooking or smell a scent that takes you back to your childhood. The swallow is thought to be the embodiment of that feeling. When you have one in or on your home, it carries the saudade of the giver, that good memory, with it.
“When you’re giving this as a gift, you’re basically giving a part of yourself that stays there. You’re creating a connection,” he says.
In 1896, Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro registered the patent for his original version of a ceramic swallow. The caricaturist/satirist and with his brother Feliciano were already prominent artists at the time. Travelers to Portugal likely have seen their ceramic dishes—still made using original molds in the town of Caldas da Rainha—shaped like the food they were meant to hold and celebrating things like cabbages, chickens, and fish. The items have found new life in recent years among millennials and Instagrammers, but the whimsy of these works is different than their solemn swallow.
The Pinheiro swallow marked a pivotal time in the country’s history. Portugal was moving away from romanticism in literature and art and into a time when realism was celebrated.
The Pinheiro swallows increased in popularity over the years. While you can still purchase an original Pinheiro, craftspeople across the country now offer their own takes on the iconic shape. Travelers will find options that range from well over a hundred euros to as little as 50 cents.
Swallows also serve as protective charms. In fact, some believe the symbol functions much like a Jewish mezuzah, the small, encased parchment scrolls affixed to doorposts in Jewish homes and temples. “There’s a common ground between the Jewish people and the Portuguese diaspora”. “We’ve sailed the world and we’re immigrants, and we always feel saudade for our homeland. A lot of people want to come back. The swallow represents that there is a nest somewhere in Portugal, although people are living all over the world.”
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