The 1st of March, here in Bulgaria, is a really important day. In fact in this day people celebrate the Baba Marta’s day, which represents the beginning of Spring!
Baba Marta, which means Granny Marta, is a mythologic character who can influence the weather in base of her mood… But the main tradition about this curious celebration is that people excange martenitsi, red and white bracelets, and when they see a stork flying in the sky or a flowerd tree, then they must tie the martenitsa up a tree.
In this joyful day we had the chance to touch for real a typical tradition and learn even more about this country. In this month everything is accorded to the colors of this celebration, people wear red and withe clothes and ornaments, trees, streets and towns are decorated by martenitsi, and old women wear traditional suites in order to impersonate Baba Marta!!!
The Martenitsa became a symbol of peace and love, health and happiness. The white colors symbolize purity and honesty in relationships, while the red color means life, passion, and cordiality in friendship and mutual love.
Besides another type of Martenitsa consists of two small wool dolls, Pizho and Penda(Bulgarian: Пижо и Пенда). Pizho, the male doll, is usually predominantly white; Penda, the female doll, is distinguished by her skirt and is usually predominantly red.
We have been really glad to take part to this celebration, collecting martenitsi and competing one agianst the other, to see who managed to gain more of those!!
Български