Wednesday, February 28, 2007

March 1 – Mărţişor

The time has come to tell you a little about a Romanian tradition; Mărţişor is the traditional celebration of the beginning of spring. The name it’s actually a diminutive of the month name March (Martie in Romanian). Men give a little gift to women, little gift called Mărţişor; the “Mărţişor” can be a little decoration like a flower, an animal, a little painted stone etc., tiled to a red and white string. The believe is that if you wear a red and white string on March 1 you will be strong and healthy for all the year to come; in some parts of Romania, the women give the “Mărţişor” to the men – in Moldova ( Romania has 3 historical divisions – Ţara Românească, Transilvania and Moldova).
The origin of “Mărţişor” is not very well established but some historians say that it originated in Ancient Rome, because the New Year was celebrated on the 1st of March (the month that celebrated the god Mars – the war god) when the nature rebirths. God Mars was the protector of agriculture and of war, and it is said that is why the colors of the string are white and red: peace and war.
The little gift is also given by women to other women: girls give the “Mărţişor” to their mothers, grand mothers, relatives, and friends.
Nowadays, the little “Mărţişor” has changed a little bit; the traditional symbols like chimney-sweep, trefoil, and horseshoe (all meaning luck) had been replaced by all kinds of little stuff animals. But the meaning is the same: the joy of spring!

Can I eat them after you take my photo? No? Why? Grrrr!!!

9 comments:

Suki & Joey said...

Cool holiday, Ronin. Are any of those for you or just your mommy and daddy? Thanks for telling us about Martisor (I can't put all those cool accents on the letters like you can!). I guess my great-grandpa and great-grandma and all their ancestors must have celebrated it, too! :)

Michele said...

Thank you, you explained Martisor so well. I had never heard of it before now. I'll have to find a red and white sting to wear for tomorrow.

Kara (Turskey) Vaught said...

Thank you for sharing! Happy Mărţişor!

Jemima Jones Beck said...

Hi Ronin!
I didn't know that you are in Romania! Mom has always wanted to go there! Thats cool!
Love,
Jemima Jones
Ps, your mommy and daddy are sure cool people for liking Harry Potter as much as I do!
Mom has already ordered her copy of the seventh book - how about your parents?
Jemima

Jemima Jones Beck said...

Hi Ronin!
I didn't know that you are in Romania! Mom has always wanted to go there! Thats cool!
Love,
Jemima Jones
Ps, your mommy and daddy are sure cool people for liking Harry Potter as much as I do!
Mom has already ordered her copy of the seventh book - how about your parents?
Jemima

Ronin_The_Pug said...

Hey Suki! I was not allowed to play with those little things... my humans didn't let me... yup the little martisoare belong to my mommy and daddy and to the other human who is helping me with the blog.
Hey Jemima! My human with the computer can't wait for the 7th book to appear! It seems that here HP7 will appear in a single library at midnight! Exclusive rights…:P After that it will appear in other stores. We hope we get a copy the first day of appearance! I think we will put our name on a list at that library… This human of mine acts like a child when it comes to HP and HP movies…
Mia and Kara, we are happy you liked our little tradition! :)

Myeo said...

Now we know what Martisor thou we still find it a little confusing. By the way, when we were reading your blog, Papa happen to walk pass and asked "who is this cute pug" :)

Love
Boy n Baby

Ivy said...

wowie! Mărţişor sounds reelly cool if girls get presents... but what kind of present is it if you arent allowed to eat it? poor ronin!

♥Lisa and The Pug Posse ♥ said...

Cool...I learned something new today! Thanks