Hello !
I 'd like to share everyone one of our most beautiful traditions : Martisor, celebrated on the 1st of March. This refers to an amulet, wore by all women on this day, until the 8th of March, for good luck and joy. The amulet is like a little toy, usually art craft, with different forms of flowers, animals, chimney sweeper, horse-shoe. it has a small yarn tight like a ribbon, made of 2 woolen yarns : one red and one white.
If you want to learn more look on the site :
http://www.meetromania.info/uk_martisor.html
Ancient spring tradition - Martisor
that sounds lovely :-). Thank you for sharing this with us :-)
-Julie
Me too.
Hello, salvia_lover and sugarweed ! I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Here is some more about this romanian tradition.
I like the crafts best, but there are also industrial made 'martisoare', by plastic or iron.
When we were children, not only the boys gave to the girls 'martisor', but also the girls gave each other . We all were spending a lot of time arranging each 'martisor' on a little sheet of paper cut like a big fat number 1, because they weren’t so nice arranged as they are today. We used to write a beautiful thought , like : "Lots of luck and joy !" and draw a snow-drop on the sheet of paper. The 'martisor' has to be fixed with a needle on the coat, right on the heart. In school, we used to fix all the 'martisoare' we've been receiving on our uniform. Also, we fix one on the coat.
This year, we went to buy martisoare on Sunday, with all the bad weather. It was a very bad snow storm, but still people went to buy 'martisoare' for giving it to the ones they love. I found some very nice, a red flower with a bug on it , a sunflower and, for Andreea, we bought a puppet monkey, art craft, of course.
What a lovely tradition.
Pati
Are there signs of spring in Romania yet?
Yes, imway2dumb, we have signs of spring, such as the spring drops, who are showing out of the snow. It was very cold tehse days, yesterday it snowed a little, but today it's warmer and sunshine. What about your place ?
The weather has been fantastic in Texas the last few days. Near 70F and sunshine at my house. Many plants show new growth. My favorite time of the year. The leaves on the trees will be next!
John
John, good for you, here is snowing again today. They say it'll get warmer on Saturday. Same here, some trees are showing new growth .
Adina
John, my Chinese Terebinth tree has baby leaves AND tiny blossoms - the first time this tree has had blossoms - YIPPEEEEEE! The Redbud trees have pretty pink flowers starting to poke their heads out and take a look-see. Spring is coming through the door even if today is too cold and rainy for me.
-Julie
Its interesting how spring is spring whether we are from cool, warm or hot climates. It marks the beginning of the new growing season for us all. Its a magical time of year!
John
Yes, John, you are right : it's a real magic time of the year !
Yet, in Bucharest it's still snowing !!! It has stopped for a few hours, at noon and it began to snow again at 6 p.m. Only that it isn't just snowing, it is a real snow storm and the wind is blowing very hard. Where is the spring ? it was here and now it's gone again !
Here is a link where you can see live the weather in different cities of Romania. Bucharest is called Bucuresti in romanian.
http://www.myx.net/MyX/mps/Portal?cmd=Webcam
Adina
Thank you very much, Adina!!! I have saved the link to my favorites list. :-)
John
You're welcome ! I'm glad that you want to see how is the weather in my country.
Adina
That is interesting and a nice tradition.
Hey, Kelli, glad you like it !
Adina...
Did you celebrate Martisor this year? Could you tell us more about it ? I wonder why we do not have a similar celebration here?
Of course, Connie ! I'll be glad to ! Yes, we are celebrating this spring tradition every year.
It represents a symbol of love and spring : the boys give one “martisor” to the girl they love. The Martisor is usually a little toy representing a flower, an animal, a thing or a human figure, like : snow-drops, doggies, cats, butterflies, a horseshoe or a chimney sweeper, for luck. Usually, they are art crafts and everyone makes it by their own imagination.
I like the crafts best, but there are also industrial made 'martisoare', by plastic or iron.
When we were children, not only the boys gave to the girls 'martisor', but also the girls gave each other . We all were spending a lot of time arranging each 'martisor' on a little sheet of paper cut like a big fat number 1, because they weren’t so nice arranged as they are today. We used to write a beautiful thought , like : "Lots of luck and joy !" and draw a snow-drop on the sheet of paper. The 'martisor' has to be fixed with a needle on the coat, right on the heart. In school, we used to fix all the 'martisoare' we've been receiving on our uniform. Also, we fix one on the coat.
Here is a picture with my "martisoare".
