Bulgarians Celebrate "Baba Marta" March 1st

Society | February 28, 2003, Friday // 00:00
Bulgarians Celebrate "Baba Marta" March 1st Bulgarians buy martenitsas for their friends and relatives. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova / novinite.com

Bulgarians celebrate Baba Marta (Grandma Marta) holiday on Saturday. The tradition goes that they present relatives and friends with a martenitsa on March 1st. The martenitsa is a red-and-white woolen thread that is worn fastened either on the clothes or around the wrist.

The red colour, as people say, is to protect from disease and evil and the white colour makes you live longer.

As her name comes from the month that she comes in, Baba Marta is believed to be either severe and cruel, making the whole country white with snow, or mild and kind giving health and strenth through her martenitsas.

On the first of March, Bulgarians 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 tradition and symbolizes the end of the cold winter and the coming of the spring.

Martenitsas are supposed to be worn until the person sees the first stork. Then martenitsas are put onto a tree.

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