The new year is inevitably soon arriving and the Lusosphere is booming with posts about traditions, resolutions, wishes, and reflections. Here is a short roundup of Portuguese speaking blogs from Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Mozambique and Portugal – although countries far apart, they share the language and hopes for a better future.

Francisco José Viegas, from Origem das Espécies [pt], puts together a comprehensive retrospective of 2007, to remember the bad and the good, in A to Z format. Miradouro Online [pt] picks out the best and the worst Mozambican public personalities in 2007. Other bloggers talk about what 2007 brought them and reveal what they hope for 2008.

From East Timor, Fábrica de Blogs [pt] hopes for better days for the young country that has a troubled past and only achieved independence in 2002:

Há sempre algo dentro de nós que nos permite agarrarmo-nos à esperança e é essa a única coisa que segura os timorenses ou qualquer outro povo do mundo. Repare-se que pela nossa parte estamos fartos de andar de frustração em frustração, estamos cansados de que nos enganem e precisamos de continuar a acreditar em coisas que se concretizem. Precisamos de acreditar no nosso país, livre e independente, com tudo aquilo de que o presidente fala mas também com muita justiça. Queremos que 2008 nos traga tudo isso e seja melhor.

There's something inside us that enables us to attach ourselves to hope and this is the only thing that holds together people from East Timor or any other nation in the world. Note that, for our part, we are tired of going from one frustration to another, we are tired of being deceived and we need to carry on believing in things that can come true. We need to believe in our country, free and independent, with everything that the president speaks about but also with much justice. We want 2008 to bring us all this and to be better.

In Mozambique, Armindo Milaco [pt] from Maputo looks at the bright side of 2007 and also hopes for a better 2008:

Reina apatia, desinteresse e medo de perder o pão como se justificam, mas na realidade o tal pão está seco e cheio de bolor. Espero que o 2008 traga muita força e determinação, coragem e entrega para o bem desta nossa bela nação onde pedra a pedra destruiremos as inconstituicionalidades, as mortes misteriosas, doenças endêmicas, desemprego e pobreza.

Apathy, disillusionment and fear of losing the bread rule, but in fact this is just a stale and moldy bread. I hope that 2008 brings greater strength and determination, courage and commitment to better our great nation, where little by little we will put an end to unlawfulness, mysterious deaths, endemic diseases, unemployment and poverty.

Juliana Helena [pt], a very young Brazilian blogger, makes a quite long retrospective of 2007 explaining why it was a different year for her:

…porque, principalmente, cada ano é único e especial. Um ano nunca é igual a outro, assim com um dia não é igual ao outro. 2007 pode ter sido um ano em que aconteceram séries de coisas ruins, mas que também nos trouxe tantas outras coisas boas. Eu não tenho pressa que 2008 chegue, curtirei o máximo possível o restinho de 2007 que ainda tenho. Porém, tenho certeza de que o ano que virá nos trará muito mais de bom e de proveitoso. Afinal, é assim que andamos: sempre torcendo e fazendo com que o amanhã seja melhor para todos nós!

…Mainly because each year is unique and special. One year is never exactly like another, inasmuch as one day is not the same as the other. 2007 may have been a year in which a series of bad things happened, but it has also brought us so many other good things. I am not in a hurry for 2008 to arrive, I will enjoy as much as I can this little bit of 2007 left that I still have. However, I am sure that next year will bring us many more good and fruitful things. After all, this is how we go: always hoping and making the future better for everyone!

From Aveiro, Portugal, Maria do Rosário Fardilha [pt] publishes the image below, by Portuguese sculptor Jorge Vieira, and explains her relationship with an upcoming year:

(Jorge Vieira)

Eu gosto de olhar para trás, não consigo sequer não o fazer. Mas também espreito o futuro, tentando adivinhar, com ou sem ansiedade – depende da alma dos dias, o que vou olhar e enfrentar. Por isso este desenho de Jorge Vieira.

I like looking back, I can't help looking back. However, I take a peep at the future, trying to guess with or without anxiety – what I will see and face depends on the soul of days. Hence there is this image by Jorge Vieira.

Also from Portugal, Gilberto Pereira [pt] wonders why people celebrate the end of a year and the beginning of the next, and reminds us that last minute resolutions can be useless:

É preciso chegar ao dia 31 de Dezembro para se lembrarem que há algo para fazer que já poderiam ter feito há mais tempo? Mas porquê?? Porque é que se desperdiçam os dias sem tirar deles o máximo proveito possível, sem viver o dia inteiro e ficando constantemente à espera que algo nos dê uma bofetada de realidade na cara? Resolução para 2008: “Este ano vou começar a viver a vida”.

Do we need to get to December 31 to remember that there is something to be done that should have already been done earlier? But why? Why is it that days are wasted without us getting the most out of them, without us living the entire day and waiting constantly for something to throw reality in our face? Resolution for 2008: “This year I will start to get a life”.

On the other hand, De Olho na Praia [pt], from Cape Verde, has resolved to be happy every single day:

Quanto ao novo ano e planos novos, prefiro pensar em dia novo, e que podemos fazer e refazer planos novos todos os dias. Temos a obrigação de ser felizes todos os dias e sim, passar para o novo ano, numa festa saborosa!

As for the new year and new plans, I prefer to think on a new day, and we can make and re-make new plans every day. We have an obligation to be happy every day and indeed, move on to the new year's celebrations, a delicious festival!

C Valente [pt] takes us through the New Year celebrations’ main dishes, deserts, drinks and rituals in Portugal and publishes the “2008 Harmony Cake” recipe, whose ingredients are:

Amor e Amizade
Esperança e Harmonia
Fraternidade, solidariedade e generosidade
E todos os outros ingredientes que cada um quiser juntarem.
As quantidades são em conformidade com o número de pessoas e o seu coração.

Love and Friendship
Hope and Harmony
Fraternity, solidarity and generosity
And all the other ingredients that each one of us would like to add to the mixture.
The measures are in accordance with the number of people and your heart.

Carola [pt], from São Paulo, Brazil, writes a balance of her life in 2007 and leaves us with a text by Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade:

“Quem teve a idéia de cortar o tempo em fatias, a que se deu o nome de ano, foi um indivíduo genial. Industrializou a esperança, fazendo-a funcionar no limite da exaustão. Doze meses dão para qualquer ser humano se cansar e entregar os pontos. Aí entra o milagre da renovação e tudo começa outra vez, com outro número e outra vontade de acreditar que daqui pra diante vai ser diferente”

“Whoever had the idea of cutting the time in slices, to which was given the name of year, was a brilliant individual. This industrialized hope, making it work within the limits of exhaustion. Twelve months are enough for any human being to get tired and throw in the towel. At this point, comes the miracle of renewal and everything starts again, with another number and another will to believe that from there on it will be different”