Cocok
Laura Romano
Giuliana Kiersz — Aug 4, 2021
For me, mate means all those obvious and kind of cheesy things like companionship – with myself or others. Nowadays, working from home, something very beautiful happens with my colleagues. Every time we have a meeting, each of us prepares a mate and I have the feeling that we are in the same circle that we used to be part of in the office. For me it’s something very intimate; I don’t share it. Who doesn’t know mate, to any latte prays.1 For me it’s quite a ceremony. It’s my favorite time of the day, reading the newspaper. I drink it bitter and when it’s lost its flavor. With my mom, with honey. With other people, always bitter. When I’m by myself, bitter; but recently it started to give me heartburn so I’ve started putting honey in again, and citrus peel. I don’t drink it that much because it increases my anxiety. I moved to Uruguay, where I acquired a university culture about what a mate is, how to make a mate, the respect that the yerba deserves. For me mate is everything. I measure the difficulty of my final exams in mate thermoses. For me, drinking mate changed its meaning during my eating disorder. I didn’t like it that much until I started using it to make me feel full when I was hungry. Eventually I recovered and now I drink it when I crave the taste, but it still reminds me of those times. The most important things that go through my head come to me in the morning with a mate in my hand. For me, mate is a hug that you don’t want to let go of. I’mnot much of a mate drinking person, so I don’t think my testimony will help you. Mate for me is my uncle before going to sleep at night. It is a way to recognize yourself in others when they drink it. It is asking a stranger for something as intimate as sharing a straw without that being weird. I drink mate by myself, in the early morning, sitting on the couch and looking at the backyard. For me it’s very popular because of the fact that it’s cheap. My husband and I used to prepare mate for ourselves in the morning and we would start talking, solving our problems while drinking mate. It has an enormous strength to resist over the years. People just want mate, not mate flavored sweets or mate flavored sodas. Drink mate!2It’s a companionship, for sure. Partly a friend. Partly my grandmother. It’s been very strange not sharing it this year. And I believe Uruguayans need to stop saying that mate is theirs; they don’t produce yerba. You feel an aura, a sense of presence, an aromatic connection that brings you back to earth and to a complicity with yourself and with whom you’re sharing it. Is there anything more disgusting than a mate done wrong? A friend said that the first time you put the kettle on to drink mate by yourself, you are an adult. Mate for me is the last thing I still have. Thank you for asking, but it’s difficult. Two things come to my mind, on the one hand heartburn and on the other one of the most beautiful encounters that I have with myself. We are talking about drinking mate by oneself, right? Drinking mate with friends is another thing. That’s why I’msaying it’s quite contradictory but those two things happen to me with mate. Anyway, I hope something from all this works for you.
Para mi el mate significa todas las cosas obvias y medio cursis del orden de la compañia, con uno mismo o con otres. Hoy en día, trabajando desde casa, pasa algo muy hermoso con mis compañeros y compañeras. Cada vez que tenemos una reunión, cada unx se prepara el mate y a mí me da la sensación de que estamos en la misma ronda que compartíamos en la oficina. Para mí es algo íntimo, yo no lo comparto. Quien no conoce el mate a cualquier latte le reza. Para mí es toda una ceremonia. Es mi momento preferido del dia. Leyendo el diario. Lo tomo amargo y lavado. Yo con mi vieja, con miel. Con otras personas siempre amargo. Y cuando estoy sola amargo pero hace poco me empezó a dar mucha acidez entonces le estoy volviendo a poner miel y cascaritas de cítricos. Yo no tomo mucho porque me potencia la ansiedad. Yo me fui a vivir a uruguay y ahí adquirí una cultura universitaria de lo que es un mate, de cómo se prepara un mate, del respeto que se le tiene a la yerba. Para mi el mate es todo. Mido la dificultad de mis finales en termos de mate. Para mí el mate cambió de significado durante mi desorden alimenticio. No me gustaba mucho hasta que lo empecé a usar para llenarme cuando tenía hambre. Eventualmente recuperada, ahora lo tomo cuando se me antoja el gusto, pero sigue recordándome de esas épocas. Las cosas más importan tes que pasan por mi cabeza me pasan a la mañana con un mate en la mano. Para mí el mate es un abrazo que no querés soltar. Yo no soy mucho de tomar mate, no creo que te sirva mi testimonio. El mate para mi es mi tio a la noche antes de irse a dormir. Es reconocerse en otres cuando lo toman. Es pedirle a une extrañe algo tan íntimo como compartir una bombilla sin que sea raro. Tomo mates sola, a la mañana temprano, sentada en el sillon y mirando el patio. Para mi es muy popular por eso, es barato. Con mi marido nos preparábamos un mate a la mañana y ahí nos poníamos a hablar, a resolver los problemas tomando mate. Tiene una fuerza enorme para resistir a traves de los años. La gente solo quiere mate, no golosinas de mate ni gaseosas de mate. ¡Toma mate! Es una compañía sin dudas. Un poco un amigue. Un poco mi abuela también. Este año fue extrañísimo no compartirlo. Y creo que los uruguayos tienen que dejar de decir que el mate es de ellos, ellos no producen yerba. Sentís un aura, un clima de presencia, una aromática conexión, que te vuelve a la tierra y a una complicidad con vos mismx o con quienes lo estés compartiendo.¿Hay algo más feo que un mate que sale mal? Un amigo decía que la primera vez que ponés la pava para tomar mate solo/a ya sos grande. El mate para mi es lo último que me queda. Gracias por preguntarme, pero es difícil. Se me vienen a la cabeza dos cosas, por un lado acidez y por otro lado uno de los encuentros más lindos que tengo conmigo misma. Estamos hablando de tomarse un mate sola ¿no? Tomar un mate con amigos es otra cosa. Por eso te digo, es bastante contradictoria pero me pasan esas dos cosas con el mate. En fin, espero te sirva de algo todo esto.
From the phrase »Who doesn’t know God, to any saint prays,« meaning who doesn’t know what’s good, conforms to anything.
From the expression »¡Tomá mate!,« a reply to news that causes surprise.
Giuliana Kiersz, born 1991 in Buenos Aires, is a writer, playwright, and artist. Her work explores our relationship with language, analyzing what language itself collects and how we can collectively express our emotions and experiences to reflect on difference through the lens of sameness. As part of her investigations, she has organized writing gatherings in different contexts around the world. These are sensitive and political spaces in which to reflect on the territories we collectively inhabit. Her texts have been translated into English, French, and Portuguese and are published by Rara Avis Editorial, Libros del Rojas, Fondo Editorial ENSAD, Editorial INTeatro, Espejo Somos, and Libros Drama.
© 2024 Akademie Schloss Solitude and the author
Beteiligte Person(en)