March 4, 2015
If you walk around any little Bulgarian town or village on the 1st of March, you will notice all people are wearing red-and-white yarn decorations called martenitsa. Sometimes they are bracelets, sometimes they are small ornaments, pinned to a blouse or jacket. This is our way to celebrate a beloved spring tradition, called Baba Marta. Baba Marta is a traditional Bulgarian holiday celebrated on the 1st of March So, why March, you may ask? Bulgarians believe that the first day of this month marks the beginning of spring. At the same time, March is famous for its constantly changing weather – one day it is cold and rains, the next – it is a warm, sunny day. The name “Baba Marta” translated to English means “Grandma March” because people in these lands believe that the weather is due to the elderly lady’s fickle mood: whenever she is happy, the weather is good. And when she is angry – it rains. The origin of the Martenitsa The tradition dates back to […]
February 14, 2015
The Bulgarian equivalent to St. Valentine’s Day in Bulgaria The romantic tradition of St. Valentine’s Day was set centuries ago. The ancient Romans celebrated ‘The Day of Love’ on 14th February, praying to the Goddess of marriage and motherhood Junona. Unmarried girls wrote letters and put it in a deep box and the man who brought it out became her husband. Nowadays, the holiday is celebrated all over the world. In Japan and South Korea St. Valentine’s Day dates back to the 1930s. In Japan, only men receive gifts on that day and the holiday for women is on 14th March, named ‘The White Day’. In contrast to Japan, in Korea men celebrate the ‘The Black Day’ on which they gather together and drink alcohol. Denmark has a different tradition – on 14th February the men give a present of dry white flowers to their loved ones. Germans associate the day with insanity and consider St. Valentine the protector of mad people – which is why they decorate hospitals for […]