On the first day of March, Bulgarians decorate their clothes with martenichki. The traditional Martenichka has two tassels of white and red woolen thread, which everyone in Bulgaria wears for good health, prosperity, and fertility. It is a social requirement on March 1st to give one martenichka to all closest relatives and friends with the greeting "Chestita Baba Marta" (Happy Granny March). Children are very enthused by the tradition and usually have many more than just one martenichka.

The exclusive stability of this tradition, based on the founding of Bulgaria in 681 A.D., is explained with the belief that the color red has the magic power to chase away evil spirits, demons, and illnesses. The symbol-martenichka-brings the name of the month Mart (March). According to legend, behind the name Mart stands a temperamental old woman who changes her mood rapidly-Baba Marta (Grandma Marta). One way to please her is by decorating our clothes, domestic animals, and houses with martenici, so that she would not bring the winter back with its bitterly cold weather.

As another way of pleasing Baba Marta in some regions of Bulgaria (like Belene, where I come from), people in the neighborhood get together and set big fires in the middle of the street while chanting, "Dear Babo Marto, we are warming you now; warm us tomorrow." There is often competition between neighborhoods as to whose fire will be the biggest and brightest with the most neighbors around it, as a sign of prosperity for the entire neighborhood. People meet around the fire for hours, telling stories, jumping over the fire, and sharing wine and tips for the farm work that begins to pick up in March-April.

In old times, street fires would be lit every night as a way of greeting the arrival of spring and along with the martenichka symbolizes new life, conception, and fertility. You wear the martenichka until you see the "first ambassadors of spring"-the stork or swallow returning from migration. After you spot the first sights of spring, the martenichka should be transferred to a blossoming tree; this way, the magic power will continue its beneficial purpose. The traditions in March uphold one's faith that everything will be better.

By Daphne Karcheva-Orris

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