Bulgarian Martenitza

I've been sadly absent from this blog. My camera crapped out (a lame excuse) and I've been preoccupied with my news and political blog (an even lamer excuse). However, today, I received an email from a friend in Sofia, Bulgaria, and it was so nice and friendly and interesting, I simply couldn't resist putting it up to share.



Bulgarian Martenitza

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The Story of Bulgarian Martenitza

In Bulgaria we have a very interesting tradition and it is related to the 1st of March. It is not a big holiday, but it is more traditional than celebration and is based on the founding of Bulgaria, 681 AD.

The month of March according to Bulgarian folk belief marks the beginning of the springtime. Therefore the 1st day of March is a traditional holiday associated with sending off the winter and welcoming the spring.

The tradition is that on the 1st of March and the days after all people give to each other very interesting strips or small wool dalls called Pijo and Penda, or as we call them Martenitzi. They bring the name of March, in Bulgarian Mart. But according to our tradition, behind the name Mart stands an angry old lady who changes her mood very rapidly. Her name is Grandma Marta, in Bulgarian Baba Marta.

The ancient roots of this ritual honor the God Mars, who is the God of the spring and later the God of the war. People in the very beginning of our century were fighting a lot. Usually the wars started at the beginning of March, and most of the warriors had to leave their homes. The women were so unhappy, and afraid about the lives of their men. That is why they decided to give to their husbands red and white tokens, which were either red and white cloth strips for the hand, or small woolen figures of a white girl and a red boy. The colours represent the blood of the warriors, which their wifes didn't want spilled, and the white colour the pale faces of their women waiting for the warriors to come back home. The exchange of these tokens was made for two reasons: the first one was to remind the men about their families and the second - to please Baba Marta, so she would not change her mood so friquently: in other words, so that the warriors would not have a lot of problems with the weather and die because of frost.

That was remained almost the same today as it began. Today we give the red and white colours only to please Baba Marta, not to make us cold. In doing so, we hope the spring will come as soon as possible. Once we have those tokens, which we put on our cloths or wrist, we wear them until we see a stork. After seeing this bird, we have to take away the tokens, cause the stork is showing us that the spring is already here. In the different parts of the country, however, the process of taking away the token is different. Some ties it on a fruit tree, thus giving the tree the health and luck that we had while having the token. Others are putting it under a stone. The kind of insect we find right next to the token the next day will determine our health for the rest of the year. If it is a worm, it will be a very healthy year, and we'll have success. It is the same in with an ant; the difference is that we'll have to work a lot to reach success. If it is a spider, then we are in trouble and we might not have that luck with health and personal success.

The "martenitza" is also an odd artistic image of nature. At that period of the year, nature is full of hopes and expectations. It also symbolized the purity of the white snow going away and the red settings of the sun becoming more and more intensive with the coming spring. These two natural resources are necessary for the life as well as the male and female spirits.

A decoration with "martenitzi" is the most typical and unique Bulgarian tradition. Now the "martenitza" symbolized new life, conception, fertility, and spring. This holiday is for joy, health and long life. This Bulgarian tradition is pure and bright like the colours of the "martenitza". It shows us the neceessity of harmony in nature and in people's lives. This is the sincere message from the "martenitza".