“A querencia is a place the bull naturally wants to go to in the ring, a preferred locality… It is a place which develops in the course of the fight where the bull makes his home. It does not usually show at once, but develops in his brain as the fight goes on. In this place he feels that he has his back against the wall and in his querencia he is inestimably more dangerous and almost impossible to kill.” — Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
Querencia is a metaphysical concept in the Spanish language. The word comes from the Spanish verb “querer,” which means “to desire.” In bullfighting, a bull may stake out his querencia, a certain part of the bull ring where he feels strong and safe.
The bull in his querencia is dangerous, but the bull trying to reach his querencia is infinitely more dangerous than the bull trying to attack the matador.
Where is your Querencia?
- Where do you feel most at home?
- Where is the home that you would fight to reach?
- Where is the home that you would fight to protect?
My Story of Home
I grew up in South Florida. For almost 20 years, the house that I called “home” remained the same. Today, I am grateful for that steady physical place to call home. Even when I was away at college, I would return home to my parents’ house.
My parents have since moved.
Someone once asked my dad, “Where is home for you?”
Thoughtfully, he paused and said, “Home is wherever I am. When I am in Jamaica with family, I feel at home. When I am in Canada with family…”
Home, I realized, is also the sense of family. This feeling of gathering and togetherness creates a sense of home for me, the sense of belonging.
“Home is a feeling that I carry with me.” ~ Dr. Joel Ying
Home is a feeling that I carry with me. Now that I have my own home, I’ve lodged the physical sense of home in a property and house. There is something in my nature about rooting and feeling connected to this space. Yet, I also realize that I have so many places that I can call home. Between my uncles and aunts, I have always felt at home whenever we go to visit them. I have so many homes in that physical sense; I know that if I showed up on their doorstep, I am welcome. My own home welcomes all those that are family… all those that I love.
And yet, there is also new sense of home that has been developing over the past few years. In the world of storytelling as I define it, that art of connection, that art of empathy and community, that way of sharing love into the world. The oral tradition of this artform called storytelling has become my home.
Home is a feeling inside, and today I have many homes. Sometimes I forget, and I return to the things that remind me of belonging… the physical space that welcomes me each morning when I awake, foods that awaken beautiful memories of nostalgia, the family and friends that give me a sense of belonging, the passion of a creative art that awakens my soul, and the many new “places” to come that I will call “home.”
Where is your Querencia?
- Where do you feel most at home?
- Where is the home that you would fight to reach?
- Where is the home that you would fight to protect?