The Martenitsa symbolizes also Mother Nature, the white symbolizing the purity of the melting white snow and the red setting of the sun, which becomes more and more intense as spring progresses. White of purity and red of life and passion, of the constant cycle of life and death, the balance of good and evil, and the sorrow and happiness in human life. So we celebrate and welcome spring with happy warm hearts. Very often it is a challenge even for locals. Winter usually is pretty cold in Bulgaria and we have a lot of snow. We relate it to the coming spring, new beginning and awakening of nature. Snowdrops appear usually for Baba Marta and tell us “smile, it is warmer, sun is shining and spring is coming soon”.īaba Marta is a very old tradition that we still keep today. Tender beautiful flowers that pop up even when we have snow in March. One of the most famous in Sofia is next to Ivan Vazov National Theater.Īnother symbol of this celebration are the snowdrops. Later when we hang them you get to see trees with red and white decoration all over the city. 🙂 It is a challenge to wear them all month long. Some Bulgarians with many friends or colleagues tend to have more than 10 martenitsas on their wrist. That’s why if you visit Bulgaria in the beginning of March, streets are full of kiosks with red and white martenitsas. Grandparents say to choose a fruit tree, so the wish comes true. Then we hand it on the tree and we make a wish. We wear the martenitsa until we see a flying stork, swallow or a blossoming tree. According to the tradition you receive martenitsa always as a gift, you don’t buy one for yourself. The male Pizho, is made of white wool, while the female Penda is mostly red. The most famous martenitsa is a couple of a boy and a girl called Pizho and Penda. This way we wish each other good health, joy and long life. Each year on 1 March we give each other (to your family, friends, colleagues, home, pet etc) a martenitsa, a red and white wrist band or small doll to put on your chest. So now it should work.Baba Marta (Grandma Marta) is a tradition celebrated in Bulgaria and in some of the neighboring countries. Ps: I am sorry I have yet to figure out how to put linksĮdit: I've finally figured out how to put the links. remember to view in full and remember also to thank the original artist. Guess sometimes ye just don't need anything else. Nonetheless, I do wish to thank ' ~flakyou' for giving me the permission and letting me modify and use this beautiful and intriguing image that he was able to capture merely by using his mobile phone. at the moment I can't seem to put any other words to describe it and why I did it.

Anyway, have a look at the result I think it is quite mind-boggling. As the red 'don’t cross line' slightly resembles a marthenica, thus I thought why not put some text to accommodate it. While looking at the image I couldn’t help noticing the idea of making this into a e-card. It was only included in the search results because ' ~flakyou' was wishing happy baba marta lucky for me.Īnyway, long story short.

The image is called ' don’t cross the line' and has seemingly nothing to do with baba marta. Nevertheless, while having a closer look at the search results I stumbled upon an image by a deviant named ' ~flakyou'.

However, to me surprise I was only able to find a few things. Then I thought, lets search one of the most creative communities online. However, none of them was creative or original enough. Well, I must add that I did manage to find many. I first got the idea when I was searching for a e-card. Well, all this brings me back to this little thing. Once you see a stork, you tie your martenica to a fruit tree. The tradition says one should wear them until we see a stork (as a migrating bird, this is the true sign the weather has turned). They believe that 'a martenica' is going to give them good health and joy in the coming spring. It's a special gift, woven from white and red threads. On March 1st the Bulgarian people amongst others give 'a martenica' to one another. Baba marta is one of the most observed traditions, and marks the end of winter & the beginning of spring.

Happy baba marta card