Hiraeth (article) by Susan K. Smith on AuthorsDen

Hiraeth- (noun) - a deep, wistful, nostalgic sense of longing for home; a home that is no longer or perhaps never was. A yearning and wistful grief for people and things long gone.

Saturday Evening Post Cover (30 Aug 1924)

Almost 100 years ago

The archives director for The Saturday Evening Post said that the magazine has been regarded with "a mixture of nostalgia and affection". Shown: a Norman Rockwell cover from August 1924.

Likewise, so many of Norman Rockwell's paintings evoke a feeling of nostalgia, or perhaps hiraeth.

That is...

Hiraeth- (noun) - a deep, wistful, nostalgic sense of longing for home; a home that is no longer or perhaps never was. A yearning and wistful grief for people and things long gone.

From: Word Nerd

Hiraeth is one of the many emotions reflected in the Psalms, for example

We have heard it with our ears, O God;

our ancestors have told us

what You did in their days,

in days long ago.

Psalm 44:1 (NIV)

There it is.

A longing for the good old days.

Hiraeth is often expressed pop culture, like Those Were the Days, a remake of an old Russian song, performed below by Mary Hopkins.

https://youtu.be/YwHJ6aNKlTU

But endings are new beginnings and can engender optimism and hope for the future.

Let go of the past and press forward.

And St. Paul took this advice to heart by the one thing:

Brothers and sisters,

I do not consider myself yet
to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do:

Forgetting what is behind

and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize

for which God has called me heavenward

in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

I'm grateful for your readership, my friends, this year in 2022.

As we finish out the old year, look to the new year--2023.

Happy New Year and keep looking up!

Web Site: smithsk: Nostalgia (part 8) - Hiraeth

Hiraeth- (noun) - a deep, wistful, nostalgic sense of longing for home; a home that is no longer or perhaps never was. A yearning and wistful grief fo

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on January 8, 2023

I always enjoy your articles and learn from them. With this article I have learned a new word and have a better understanding of why people always look backward as a better time in their lives.

While I enjoy the past I had, I'm always looking forward to the next thing that is happening. It's just my inquisitive nature, I guess. And an optimistic one that 2023 will be much better than 2022 with its economic woes and Covid hangover.

Ron