Season Challenge - First of March

We said goodbye to February and welcomed March with the hope for better days.

Today, on first of March my country Bulgaria celebrates Baba Marta (Granny Marta). This is a very much beloved holiday when everyone is giving and receiving martenitza, a kind of adornment made of white and red strings in different shapes and forms. The tradition is very old and our neighbouring countries have similar. Closest perhaps is the Romanian tradition.

On this day we give as presents Martenitza to family members, friends, colleagues. In the past farmers were putting the strings like necklaces on the farm animals. The symbolic meaning is the wish of good health. March means spring and new beginning. The very first martenitzas were made of woolen strings and later elaborated into the male and female figures called Pizho and Penda like the picture below.

Nowadays one can find a huge variety of bracelets, necklaces, badges with additional coloured beads and ornaments embedded. Some are big enough to be hanged on the wall. Weeks before March 1st, you will see not only in the shops but on the streets people selling them, some being unique prepared by the sellers themselves.

The ones I chose for my mates in the office are:

For the girls bracelets with beads and for the boys only string bracelets.

We shall wear them until we see the first stork, then we shall place them on a tree branch or under a stone.

You may ask why we call the holiday Granny Marta. March is believed to be the only female month. In Bulgarian folkore it is represented as an old woman, hence Granny Marta. Like women tending to change their temper quickly, March can change instantly from sunny and warm to snowy and windy. Old people used to say - Do not mess with Granny Marta, she may turn ugly. Just for fun women choose a day from the month. If the day is bright, sunny, warm, so is the person chosen that day. But, if the day is cold with rain or worse with blizzards, then that pesron is pretty much bad-tempered. 😉

When we arrived at work, we got martenitza at the entrance. Human resources like every year bought them for each employee and worker.

Then in the office I gave the ones I bought and received these ones from my colleagues.