Честита Баба Марта! / The Bulgarian tradition of Baba Marta

Публикувам този пост с ден закъснение, поради ангажиментите ми през последните дни, свързани с 1 март. Ще разберете какви бяха те, ако го прочетете!:) Честита Баба Марта! Пожелавам на всички вас да сте здрави, румени и засмени през цялата година!

At the very end of February Bulgarians make or buy for their relatives and friends "martenitsa"-s -   white and red threads, weaved in different  ways. On the first day of March they put the "martenitsa"-s on their clothes or wrists and wish each other health and happiness with the words "Happy Grandma Marta!" (the name derived from the Bulgarian word for "March" - "mart"). Early in the morning women must sweep the house and hang on the balcony  a red cloth, so that Grandma Marta ( in Bulgarian - Baba Marta) smiled and the Sun shined! This is an ancient Bulgarian tradition (existing, perhaps, for more than one thousand years) ,which symbolizes the end of Winter and the coming of Spring... "Martenitsa"-s are supposed to be worn until one sees a stork, returning from the South, or a fruit tree in blossom. Then they have to be tied to the tree or put under a stone. Grandma Marta is famous for her changing moods - that's why the days in March are so diverse - rainy and cold, sunny and warm.

Here're the traditional martenitsas...

Pizho and Penda

And my interpretation in Corel Draw...

Tassels in red and white

Now have a look at some of the numerous models one can buy!...

В събота  нашата театрална трупа организира работилничка за изработване на мартеници - традиционни и хартиени.  Бяхме поканили специалист-етнограф от Регионалния  исторически музей. Ужасно съжалявам, че забравихме да вземем фотоапарата, за да ви покажа красотите, които деца и възрастни сътвориха от два цвята прежда, хартия и мъниста!! Имам само тези снимки, но мисля, че атмосферата се усеща......


On Saturday, together with my husband, a fellow actress and an ethnographer  from the  Regional History Museum, we organized a workshop for making martenitsas - for children and... their parents!:) I am so sorry I forgot to take the camera with us!  Now I can't show you the  amazing bracelets everybody made! I have just a few photos from the paper "martenitsas".  

Мострите, които направих.

 My models

"Помогни ми, татко!" 



"Help me, Daddy!"

" Ох! Май че успях!"


"Wow! I've almost succeeded!"

"Ама какво става тук?"


"What's going on here?"

Late in the evening my husband made some bracelets for us and his colleagues and friends. Here are some of them. (My son made terrific braceletes, too, for all his friends and the family.)

 

 

Някои от гривничките, които съпругът ми направи за поредна година.

 Така се случи, че тъкмо аз бях за малко Баба Марта вчера!  В една детска градина... Наоблечена с няколко ката дрехи, с бастунче и очила. Децата ми се радваха, някои се страхуваха, прегръщаха ме, докосваха ме, пяха, рецитираха, споделяха вълненията си... Чувствах се като Дядо Коледа... Прекрасно!:)))

"Бабо Марто, може ли да те целуна? Ей така, от обич!"

 Who's this?...  Baba Marta, of course! O.K., yes, but WHO is she??... Well, me! :-) Yesterday I had the rare chance to be Baba Marta in a performance for a kindregarden! They  dressed me in a traditional Bulgarian costume... (I was all in "layers"!) and I took a cane and put on these false glasses in order to look like a granny...:))))) If you look carefully, you can see examples of Bulgarian embroidery, as well as the threads in white and red in my hands, that I  tied up later around the wrists of the children! It was a very exciting and unforgetable experience!

 "May I kiss you, Grandma Marta, because I  love you?"

Две детски рисунки на Баба Марта за спомен

Two children's drawings of Baba Marta as a gift

П.П. Само да добавя...!

P.S. I would like to add this...!