Baixo Alentejo | Testemunhos
Jorge Serafim
From the earth, the world is built. The gaze upon the world. Our way of inhabiting space and time. It is the mother of will, the line that traces the horizon. From the earth, everything is born; to the earth, everything returns, like a harbour that remains a lifetime within each individual. Only in it and from it do we envision the path. When we cultivate it, it is to sow the future; the verbs are aware of this. Only this conjugation eternalizes hope. They know that the time of tomorrow cannot be made without the maternal substance. The earth is always the initial direction; when we forget it, we lose our reason. And reason seeks to be close to the womb, where the seed germinates and ignorance ends.
Some say it is ruthless, that it is to walk at the mercy of chance, that the best approach is to blaze trails and paths. Others say that when the sun lashes out, the mother punishes. But they conclude that interpreting it is the best lesson. The attention we give to the earth is the return of rebirth. It is about understanding the meaning of cycles. To do this, reading the expressions of days and nights, the most appropriate time to prepare, cultivate, water, wait, care for, prune, and harvest is to relearn to love the gestation of dreams. The earth is demanding; it does not spare the body, punishes the bones, and sometimes bends belief, but there is always a moment when it once again greens the hope. Earth, water, air, fire, and man in such a perfect symbiosis. They unite and merge like a "love that burns to be seen." In one moment, they are vine, variety, flower, fruit, home, and the harmonious perfection of wine. Plots which are added daily to knowledge through several generations, so that we may once and for all be the true humanization of the world.
Only in Baixo Alentejo does the slow tasting and the rough voice of the plain transform into a Being. We do not know where the tasting begins and the singing ends. We only feel that the alchemy materializes in the tenderness of those who savour slowly what is most precious to appreciate, enjoy, and embrace… Life! At this stage, we already know that we have intertwined wisdom and the future in an extraordinary enchantment. Thus, we wish to continue knowing how to read in nature, the personality of Mother Earth, and the identity of the people who preserve the timeless knowledge of the nectar of the gods.