Martisor: A Romanian Spring Celebration

photo: Snowdrop Martisor, from Wikipedia

She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead.
A. A. Milne

Spring will be here soon! Today's post features songs and dances about Martisor, celebrated on March 1 in Romania.

Martisor is also a red and white decoration such as a bracelet or brooch worn during the month of March, to celebrate the arrival of spring. There is a similar holiday in Bulgaria on March 1, Baba Marta Day. The main difference is that the Romanian holiday was originally a New Year celebration (the ancient Romans celebrated the New Year on March 1).  The Bulgarian celebration honors a mythical figure, Baba Marta, and people wear adornments called Martenitsa in order to please Baba Marta so that spring will come early. These are given to friends and relatives for good luck and health.

The first video is of a children's group, who perform two songs and a dance in honor of Martisor. The dance is called Hora Martisorului. Notice the stigaturi (shouts), these are typical of Romanian folk dances.



Video #2 is a pop-folk song with all the ladies dressed in red and white, titled Martisor, which is another one of those earworms that will take up residence in your head for hours. If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you have listened to lots of them.  The song is lively and cheerful, and although I couldn't find the lyrics or a translation it's well worth a listen. From what I can gather it's about the arrival of spring (primavara in Romanian).

Not only are they dressed for the holiday, they're carrying bunches of flowers as well.  The costumes are a bit on the sexy side...eye candy for the guys?



Video is a group of  young dancers from Calarasi, in southern Romania, dancing a sirba in honor of spring, followed by a medley of other traditional dances. The "embroidery" on the screen behind the dancers will get your attention.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Crossing the River Part Three: The Bulgarian Martenitsa and the Romanian Martisor

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Martenitsa (but were afraid to ask)

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba


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Dancing Through the Alphabet: Letter L

In many ways we are all sons and daughters of ancient Greece.

Nia Vardalos

We have reached the middle of the alphabet. Today's dance is Leventikos, from Florina, in northern Greece.

This dance is also known as Pušteno across the border in the Republic of Macedonia.  Many folk dances in the Balkans don't follow political borders, as a result, especially on the YouTube comments, people bicker about whether the dance is Macedonian or Greek.  Actually, for the record, it's both, since there's a region called Macedonia in Northern Greece. If the dance crossed the border into the Republic of Macedonia under a different name, who cares? We should be dancing instead of fighting, anyway.

Many Balkan dances are grouped into quick-slow beats, which confuses things even more. The time signature for Leventikos (for those of you who are into music theory) is 12/16. The beats are grouped together in this manner: 3+2+2+3+2.  An easier way is to clap the rhythm: slow-quick-quick-slow-quick.



Here's a slightly fancier version of the same dance.  The men like to add embellishments (and the little girls behind the line are paying attention!)



This week's bonus video celebrates the springtime tradition of  Martenitsa.  It is a custom especially in Bulgaria, but also done in Romania and Greece. People give each other red and white decorated tassels or bracelets to drive away winter and welcome spring.

It has been a very long hard winter in my part of the world, and the snow on the ground will take a while to melt. Baba Marta, (a mythological figure much like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy) may have been good to the Bulgarians this year, but she's keeping that beautiful springtime weather across the pond instead of sharing it with us.

Who will win the Martenitsa fight? Will spring finally take over?  Watch the video and find out.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Bulgarian Dances and Their Greek Relatives

The "Flavors" of Greek Syrtos

Crossing the River Part 3: The Bulgarian Martenitsa and the Romanian Mărţişor



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Chestita Baba Marta! A Baba Marta Song (in English), the Martenitsa Folk Dance Group, and Some Cool Bulgarian Crafts

Photo: Martenitsa, by Katley Brown

In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

Today's theme is Baba Marta, and her symbol, the Martenitsa.

Winter in the northeastern United States was especially long, cold and snowy and everyone is looking forward to spring!  Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a deep freeze and think Baba Marta is unhappy with us because the cold and snow will last well into the first week of March.

The first song is by Jonathan Taylor, an Englishman who lives in Bulgaria. The video was taken after a particularly harsh winter.  You can see the deep snow and the meltwater coming off the roofs of the houses. Taylor asks Baba Marta (Grandma March) to have mercy on the Bulgarians and drive away winter.  You can find the lyrics here:



The next video features the Martenitsa Folk Dance Group from Stuttgart in Germany, and took place during a summer festival in 2008. They perform a medley of Bulgarian folk dances from different folklore regions of the country: Dobrudja, Pirin, Shoppe, and others.   I have noticed that Bulgarian folklore is very popular in Germany. It must be all those trips the Germans make every summer to Black Sea resorts.



The martenitsa is a much-loved symbol in Bulgaria; it heralds the coming of spring.  Traditionally, it's made from red and white yarn woven together to make a bracelet; tassels or male/female figures.  They are given to friends and family for good luck, and to ward off winter.  They are also associated with Baba Marta (Grandma March) who is very moody, she can either bring balmy springtime weather or freezing cold and snow.  That is why it's important to make her happy by wearing martenitsa on a lapel or on the wrist.

The last video was produced by the Bulgarian National Television in Rousse, and shows the many different types of martenitsa. It's narrated in Bulgarian,with no subtitles. If you like folk art it's worth a look. These creations are quite original. There are tassels, little men and women, a broom and even spiders.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Crossing the River Part Three: The Bulgarian Martenitsa and the Romanian Mărţişor

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Martenitsa (but were afraid to ask)

The Martenitsa Tree (a modern-day folktale)

A Dance for Baba Marta: Children's Celebrations in Bulgaria

Project Martenitza, a group from Australia, has been organizing Bulgarian, Romanian and Moldovan communities around the world to decorate Martenitsa Trees.  Read more about them here:

Check out my new blog Light and Shadow, and you will understand why I hate winter.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Springtime Music by Diko Iliev

Today's post has a springtime theme with music by the Bulgarian composer Diko Iliev (1898-1984).
His works were based on folk dances from northwestern Bulgaria and arranged for brass orchestras. 

Although many people are familiar with his most famous piece, Dunavsko Horo, he wrote numerous other compositions which are not as well known.

The first is titled Пробуждане на Пролетта (Springtime Awakening.)  Although I like the scenery in this video, however, the "please purchase" annotation is a distraction.  My guess is that although many YouTubers are looking to make money from their videos, they are a bit more discreet about it.

By the way, I find commercials very annoying, and always skip though them when I can. The advertising business would go bankrupt the if the world were made up of people like me.



The next piece is Proletno Horo (Springtime Dance).  After a long, hard winter, everyone wants to dance outside.  The artwork is very appealing as well, it captures the essence of a Bulgarian village scene.  If anyone knows who the artist is, please let me know in the "comments" section!



Same artwork, but a different piece of music this time, Maisko Utro, or May Morning. Iliev might have been inspired by a quote from William Shakespeare when he composed this piece: No doubt they rose up early to observe The rite of May; and, hearing our intent, Came here in grace of our solemnity.

I like spring because it's so colorful, and after the cold and dreariness of winter, it's good to see the trees dressed with beautiful blossoms and everything in brilliant hues.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Dreaming of Spring in the Middle of Winter (a blog post written during the cold, snowy and harsh winter of 2010-2011).  If you like Bulgarian folk songs about flowers, this is for you!

Having a Blast with Diko Iliev ( a short bio of Diko Iliev with lots of music).

A Celebration for Diko Iliev's Birthday (more music  and lots of scenery from the town of Oryahovo, where the composer spent a good portion of his life).


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A Dance for Baba Marta: Children's Celebrations in Bulgaria

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

The first of March is a day of celebration in Bulgaria, for it is the Day of Baba Marta, which means the beginning of spring! From what I've seen on the news, Europe has had a particularly bad winter, and Bulgaria was hit hard with freezing cold and snow.

Baba Marta is symbolized by an elderly woman. Her name means Grandma March. In temperate climates, the month of March is notorious for wild weather; there are days when you can walk around without a jacket; and other days when it's time for the parkas and snow boots. The saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" describes how changeable this month can be.

Baba Marta is very moody and and can bring bad weather at a moment's notice. It is important to please her by wearing red and white threaded pieces of yarn, called Martenitsa, on your wrist as a bracelet or on your jacket as a brooch. She also likes it when you dress up in her colors, red and white. It is customary to wear the Martenitsa until the trees start to bloom, or when the first stork is visible. Then you put it on a blossoming tree.

This week's post features children's celebrations for Baba Marta with plenty of singing and dancing. They are entirely in Bulgarian, with no subtitles. Dance is a universal language, so there's nothing lost in translation :) The first group of children are festively dressed in red and white folk costumes. They are really cute :)



The next video is a celebration in a nursery school which includes a song and a dance for Baba Marta, led by the Babi (grandmothers). By the way, Честита Баба Марта means "Happy Baba Marta Day."



This link explains some more about the tradition of the Martenitsa, and the history behind it.

http://www.omda.bg/engl/ethnography/marten.html

Last year I posted a story about a Martenitsa tree in my back yard. These trees in Varna, Bulgaria, decked out with Martenitsas are so much fancier than mine. Check this out:



March first is also a name day for people with the names Martin, Martina, Marta, Dochka, Docho, Evdokia, Evdokim. By the way, one of my daughters is named Martina, and her favorite color is red :)

If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The Martenitsa Tree, A Modern Day Folktale

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/03/martenitsa-tree-modern-day-folktale.html

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Martenitsa, But Were Afraid to Ask: (includes pictures, the legend of the Martenitsa, and a Martenitsa fight). Lots of fun!

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/02/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know.html


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The Martenitsa Tree-A Modern Day Folktale (Inspired by the Internet)

It's now almost mid-March, and Baba Marta is finally starting to smile on Massachusetts. The snow is almost gone, and the air is noticeably warmer. Even the ice cream truck made the rounds for the first time today.

Recently I read a post on the internet about Martenitsa trees springing up (pardon the pun) all over the world. Here is the link:

http://www.martenitza.org/content/about-project

In response to a fellow blogger (a young lady from Bulgaria), this is my Martenitsa tree. Actually two views of it, since my yard still has the leftovers of January and February's snow, which is fast disappearing.

My tree looks nothing like the ones I saw on the Project Martenitza site, but after all, each tree is as different as its creator.

Here is the story of the Martenitsa Tree:

Once upon a time, many years ago, a little girl brought a pine tree seedling home from school. She wanted to plant it, so she asked her mother to find a home for it. Mom found the least crowded spot in the backyard, dug a hole, and forgot about it for a long, long time.

It took many years to grow. For the longest time it was dwarfed by the surrounding bushes and plants, for Baba Marta had not yet seen it.

Then one spring, the tree had a growth spurt because Mom had tied a Martenitsa on it after the first flowers bloomed in the neighborhood. Baba Marta came all the way from Bulgaria to see this tree, was pleased, and put a growth spell on it.

The tree nearly tripled in size!

It got so big that Mom decided it needed some decoration, so she tied more martenitsi on it. Then she read the martenitsa had to be placed on a fruit tree, and since a pine tree does not bear fruit, she found some apples that had been previously used as Christmas ornaments. Since Mom likes odd numbers, especially Balkan dances with nine beats to the measure, there are nine apples on the tree.

The tree grew even more. The tiny seedling that was brought home and planted over thirteen years ago is now a little over 5 feet (1.55 meters) tall!

Mom had read something on the internet recently about Martenitsa trees and mentioned them to one of her blogger buddies, a young woman from Bulgaria who went to college in Boston, and now studies in England. The young woman had mentioned that she wanted to send the picture of a Martenitsa Tree in Massachusetts to her family in Bulgaria.

Although it's nothing fancy, and it's (technically) not a fruit tree, this Martenitsa Tree is the only one in her town, and brings good luck to all who reside there. (so far this month there haven't been any snow storms).

Baba Marta now smiles on Massachusetts.

THE END.

For more on the Martenitsa, read: http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/02/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know.html


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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Martenitsa (but were afraid to ask :)

What's red and white and has travelled all over the world? What do Bulgarians wear every year on March 1st to hasten the arrival of spring? Why is it important to make Baba Marta happy? (She's prone to mood swings). It's all in this video.



The custom of wearing the Martenitsa has become widespread outside Bulgaria, and non-Bulgarians, including myself, are wearing them in the hope that Baba Marta (Grandmother Martha) will bring an early spring, since this past winter has been especially cold and snowy. I saw a number of people wearing them at last year's Balkan Music Night, an event held in the Boston area in mid-March. The bands had them on their instruments, especially on their tupans (large double-sided drums).

There is no "right" way to make a martenitsa. They are an exercise in creativity. They come in red and white tassels, tied together. They can be made as bracelets or necklaces, ornamented with beads, or in the form of boy and girl dolls named Pizho and Penda.

I prefer to make the martenitsa as a bracelet, and I can do one in about 15 minutes. The custom is to give them as gifts to friends and relatives, for good luck and good health. One lady, at the Friday night dances, a native of Bulgaria, was quite impressed with the ones I made. She told me in Bulgaria nowadays, people are more likely to buy them from street vendors than to make their own. They are not difficult to create if you've been to summer camp, and I made the ones in the picture #2.

Making lanyards was an activity we engaged in on rainy days at camp and making a martenitsa is just like making a lanyard, except that you use red and white yarn, instead of that plastic lace used to make keychains. The colors, ideally, match the skeins of yarn in picture #1.

The Martenitsa has even travelled to the coldest place on Earth. Handmade ones have been mailed to Antarctica, according to this article from the Bulgarian National Radio.

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Life/Pages/0203martenizata.aspx

The Bulgarian Antarctic Institute has a really cool website, and it looks like the people stationed there have been teaching the penguins to dance :) Wherever Bulgarians go, they take their traditions with them!

http://www.bai-bg.net/index_files/page0001.htm

I grew up in the South Bronx, in a housing project. It was a rough neighborhood, and nowadays is one of the most gang-infested places in the United States. These dreary look-alike apartment complexes have counterparts in Eastern Europe, and this neighborhood is the setting for a pair of dueling Martenitsas. Note: Neither one was harmed in the taking of this video, which was done strictly in the spirit of fun.)



For more about the Martenitsa in Bulgarian folk tradition, click this link:

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Folklore/Pages/2602marteniziFolkwise.aspx

For last year's post about my fascination with this Bulgarian folk craft, click here:

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/02/baba-marta-and-springtime-in-bulgaria.html


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Dreaming of Spring in the Middle of Winter: Flowers in Bulgarian Folklore

Living in the deep freeze is not easy. The temperatures have been so cold recently that you can throw boiling water from a container and it will freeze before hitting the ground.



Not only has it been extremely cold, we have been doused with large quantities of snow every week! According to the statistics for this region, we have had at least 40 inches (a little over a meter) of snow during the month of January alone.

Since I hate winter and can't wait for it to end, today's post is about flowers, springtime and Bulgarian folklore. I am dreaming of spring in the middle of winter.

Here's one of my favorite folk-pop songs from Bulgaria, Biala Roza (white rose). The dance is a Devetorka. A white rose is beautiful and symbolizes innocence, but watch out for those thorns!



Are any of you old enough to remember the "flower children" from the 1960's? I think the Bulgarians were the original flower children judging from the number of videos I've seen with them wearing flowers in their hair. This little girl has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard. She has flowers in her hair, and is wearing a traditional Bulgarian folk costume. And it's springtime....



Here is a dance-song called Karamfil (Carnation.) According to the song, the red carnation is the symbol of the rebel (haiduk) who leads the struggle against Ottoman Turkish rule, the mother of the partisans and the leader of the Slavs. He is a true son of the Balkans, born in the Valley of the Roses. For some reason, the Chinese love Bulgarian folk music. Must be that connection they have with the ancient Bulgarian calendar, which is the same as the Chinese zodiac!



The Year of the Rabbit is just around the corner. Click here to read about the ancient Bulgarian calendar and the Chinese zodiac:
http://www.helium.com/items/1512507-ancient-bulgarian-calendar-and-chinese-zodiac

The rose is the national flower and a symbol of Bulgaria. In spring, the Valley of the Roses comes alive with the color and fragrance of millions of flowers. The Rose Festival is held in June. Rose oil from Bulgaria is exported all over the world, to be used as an ingredient for perfumes. In this video, girls in traditional dress wear flowers in their hair. They're dancing a Pravo Horo, which is the one of the most popular dances in Bulgaria.



For more on the Rose Festival, click here:
http://www.rose-festival.com/valley-roses.shtml

Unfortunately, there's more than 6 more weeks of winter left.....but I can dream, can't I?


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Baba Marta and Springtime in Bulgaria

March 1st is the official start of springtime in Bulgaria. It is when Baba Marta (Grandmother Martha) visits the land and everybody hopes that winter has been banished.

To appease her, people wear red and white threads (or intertwined pieces of yarn) for good luck and health in the coming year. Here is an explanation of the custom and a bit of the story behind it:

http://www.balkanfolk.com/news.php?id=43

These charms or amulets can be worn in a number of forms: as bracelets, necklaces, or pinned onto the clothing and they are worn for good luck and prosperity during the coming year.

I was so captivated by this Bulgarian folk craft that I bought two skeins of yarn, one red and one white, and decided to create my own Martenitsa.

I was a little rushed when I made them. The bracelets didn't look too bad, but the tassle one needed some work.

Since I live in a multi-cultural household and am a citizen of the world, their place of honor was in front of the Puerto Rico mirror, next to my daughter Marty's Chinese good luck charm (notice the similarity)? that I picked up in Chinatown a few years ago. The Martenitsa on the right is traditional, with Pijo and Penda.

I have one on my key ring and so far I haven't lost my keys and have only been in one car accident, which was a fender bender. Baba Marta must like me!

Here's a video from the Universe of YouTube, showing the different types of martenitsi, how they're made, and how they're worn accompanied by music from the group Leb i Vino (Bread and Wine).