Baba Marta is often depicted as a cantankerous old lady with rapid mood swings. In Bulgarian, the word Baba translates to “grandmother”, while Mart translates to the month of March. A martenitsa is used as an adornment by the people of Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania during the springtime holiday season called Baba Mara. Some cultures choose to wear it up until they see a stork, a budding tree or a swallow, which are all symbols of the new life that springtime brings.īaba Marta is a tradition in Bulgaria to mark the arrival of spring, which is done during the first day of March and remembered all throughout the month.

In Bulgaria, one of the many ways it is commemorated is by wearing a martenitsa.Ī martenitsa is a small adornment made of red and white yarn that is worn by people during the first day of March up until the end of the month. If you don’t have time or yarn to make Martenitsa(bulgarian red and white bracelet), share this post on Facebook or Twitter with your friends and wish them and their families health, joy and smiles.Springtime is here! All over the world, various springtime customs and ceremonies are done to mark the end of winter, to welcome in the warmer weather of spring, and to say goodbye to the oftentimes hard winter. The tradition is that when person who wear martenitsa see blooming tree to tie it on a branch.

In the end of March you can see many trees adorned with red and white bracelets in Bulgaria. Some of the specific features of the ritual in the beginning if may and especially tying the twisted white and red woolen threads to suggest Thracian Hellenic, even to Roman origin. Baba Marta is the personification of nature in the stage of early spring – erratic, unpredictable, easily changing. The holiday is a symbol of a new season – spring and rotation of the natural cycle. There is no such a tradition in the other part of the Balkans Martenitsa Symbolism Some adults were heard about it and most of the people over 38 / ’40 said that this tradition has remained in the past, and increasingly few people think of it. Most young people under 22 years, didn’t know what does Martenitsa means. I asked some Macedonian friends about that custom. Martsashor is also the name of March in Romanian language. This ancient custom, according to tradition, is related to the time of symbolic death and symbolic birth of a local female deity – Baba Dokiya. Martenitsa (“mărțișor” in Romanian) is an ancient symbol of an ancient scenario for the revival of nature on the cusp of spring. Usually in small villages in Greece grandmothers tie martenitsi (μάρτη) to small children’s hands to be healthy and happy all year long. In general this custom is forgotten in the big cities, but around the Universities and the places where young people gather, you can see smiling boys and girls with red and white bracelets around their wrists. Greek ethnologists connect this custom with many ancient pagan history of the Balkan Peninsula, especially with the agricultural fertility cults. Martenitsas (μάρτης) in Greece are preserved only in the high mountain areas far from major urban and cultural centers. In Haskovo grandmothers, who earlier tie martenitsi on children hands, get dressed entirely in red color.Ĭontrary to popular opinion, that martenitsa is original Bulgarian “invention” Romania and Greece, have something different to say.In Trojan on 1 st of March before sunrise mistress of every house tied red wool locks, fruit trees, in the horns of cattle.In the town Razgrad at sunrise every housewife throwing red fabric on one of the fruit trees in the garden, “to laugh Baba Marta.”.In some parts of Bulgaria people use different colors instead of white yarn.There are many interesting customs and traditions related to Bulgarian martenitsa. This color according to popular belief, has the power of the sun and gives vitality to every creature. The red one is the color of vitality, health and love, victory, life and courage, the light of a rising or setting sun. The white color is a sign of beauty, symbolizes purity, innocence and joy. This tradition make 1 st of March one of the most Bulgarian customs ever.īulgarians decorate themselves every year on March 1 – holiday of “Grannie Marta” (Baba Marta or Баба Марта). This custom is considered unique Bulgarian tradition. Martenitsa (Bulgarian red and white bracelet) is a small piece of adornment, made of white and red yarn and worn from March 1 until the appearance of the first blooming tree or the first stork.

Baba marta