If you have a walk along the streets on the 1-st March anywhere in Bulgaria you will see many smiling faces full of joy. But most of all you'll notice Bulgarian 'martenitsas'. Martenitsas are a kind of adornment we wear from the 1-st March every year. They are made of a white and a red twisted thread. The thread of the Martenitsa is twisted. They are either attached on the wrists, on the fingers and necks of children, on the braids of maidens or hung on the clothes. They are mostly made of woolen or cotton yarn in two main colours: white and red.
There is a lot of symbolism in the martenitsa. The white and the red colour are important and can't be replaced by any other colours. White symbolizes the winter and its purity. The red colour symbolizes the coming spring, new hope and the expectation of the hot weather. The red also makes the evil spirits go away, also the diseases.
We usually give martenitsas to each other. By giving people martenitsas, we wish them good health and strength (represented by the red colour of the martenitsa), as well as luck and peace (the white colour) throughout the year.
The martenitsas are worn until we see a stork. This bird is considered a messenger of the spring and evidence that Grandma Marta has been pleased. When we see a stork we take off the martenitsa and hang it on a fruit tree.
