Baba Marta Tradition

Before the beginning of March each year Bulgarians present to relatives and friends martenitsa (also known in some Bulgarian regions as martenka) - a double red and white tassel - to bring health and happiness. On the first day of March, people in Bulgaria put the martenitsa-s on their clothes or wrists and wish each other health and happiness with "Chestita baba Marta" - (in English, "Happy Grandma Marta"). "Marta" comes from the word for March (Mart) in Bulgarian.

This is an ancient Bulgarian (pagan) tradition (well - nobody knows how old but most probably it's more than one thousand years old) and symbolizes the end of the cold winter and the coming of the spring.

Martenitsa-s are supposed to be worn until the person sees the first stork (supposedly returning from the South and not the one in the Zoo). Then martenitsa-s are thrown onto a tree. The red and white colours symbolize the snow and the blood from an old story where, a stork brings the blessing for health to a small child from its parents, who are far away. The giving of the martenitsa makes you feel to expect the Spring very soon. The "arrival" of the stork indicates that this has happened.

The lack of "real" winter and storks (not a lot of them in the cities) raises some difficulties in implementing this tradition nowadays but Bulgarians are still celebrating and very fond of the 1st of March (in a traditional and "modern" way at the same time).