On the 1st March, Romanians celebrate the ending of winter and look forward to the regeneration of Spring. To mark the occasion men give these little beauties, known as Martisors, to women. Traditionally women wear them around their necks or on their chest but today its more usual to wear a daintier version around the wrist. It is supposed to bring good luck and beauty for the coming year. The symbolism of the red and white varies depending on who you talk to. It can be red for spring and white for winter, or red for passion for the woman and white for her purity. The grey disk is meant to be a coin but its now more common to have a small charm, like a heart, sun/moon or a little man. In the countryside, where it originated, it is tied to the first tree they see in blossom.
The origins of the custom are a mystery and there are many stories. What is clear is that it is very old indeed. The Dacians (the people who lived in Romania before the Romans diced them up) had a virtually identical practice but with a white (life) and black (death) colour scheme. The red and white appears in the Roman times as a mark of respect to Mars. The specific stories range from the very dull to damn exciting. The dull one is that a poor doll maker made the first Martisor from the last of his materials and word spread throughout the land, as if it were some great invention, and thus we have it today. Its a bit boring but compared to the other legends it has one advantage, it could have been possible.
The first legend is of the old agrarian deity, an evil step mother named Dochia, who sent out her young step daughter to look for strawberries. The daughter met a man on the road (some legends say the man was God) and he gave her some strawberries which she took home to Dochia. Dochia saw the fruit and thought the weather had changed so she took of her nine (nine?!) coats, took her sheep and went to the mountains where she promptly froze to death. Amateur. The martisor is worn to mark the true change of the weather.
The second is my personal favourite. In the old days the sun was able to take the form of a human, and as you would if you were the sun in human form with some time to kill, the sun would then go and dance with Romanian peasant folk. Much mirth was had by all. One day a dragon (yes a dragon) discovered what the sun was upto in his free time and followed the sun to earth. As the dragon followed the sun to earth, that must mean the dragon was not on earth so it's an alien dragon! For some reason the dragon had beef with the sun and its dancing ways so took the sun prisoner in a castle. Boo dragon! Everyone was devastated but to scared to face the dragon until a brave young man entered the castle. He fought the dragon, the fight lasted for many days, but he was victorious and despite his many wounds he freed the sun. The young man was seriously hurt, he had just fought a dragon, he bleed onto the snow (seeing where its going) and when his last drop was spilled he died, happy in his noble life. Where he lay the flower known as snowdrop sprouted so everyone knew spring was near, so the martisor is a symbol of passion and remembrance of the young man. If you really want to honour him, someone should have stopped him bleeding to death in the snow, but there you go. If thats not true, I don't want to know what truth is.
As a foreigner traditions like this are interesting, different traditions are one the best things about being abroad, but it can also cause a few headaches. Is it appropriate for me to take part? Or is it expected? Which women do you give it to? A few people said every girl you know, but most said just to special ones, but how special? I like my Romanian teacher and I'm grateful for her efforts, but is that special enough? Or is it for family and girlfriends? How much of a romantic gesture is it? If I gave one to a girl with a boyfriend or husband should I expect a punch in the face? Some say give it to friends, but then you risk offending someone you don't give it too. One girl said she found the whole thing a little patronizing, so even by trying to be nice I can upset people. It's a minefield!
So ladies of the blog I offer the Martisor above to you, its not real, but the feeling is, and you're still one Martisor up on last year.
love love love x
1 comment:
The tradition is opened to everyone. So if you decide to join in a few short personal views regarding your questions and about and the whole tradition in general.
As a general observation Martisorul is a gift, so it follows the general rules of gift giving. 1.Givning a gift to some one shows that you like that person and want to continue having a good relation with her where as not giving one shows exactly the opposite, so I would be very careful around the work place considering we are sailing the sea of women.
2. Are the women at our work place expecting a martior from every guy? Yes they are women
3. I would strongly advise you to give one to you’re Romanian teacher. I think that it’s not expected of you do it (as a opposed to us poor Romanian guys where it’s almost a must) so if you do the effect is even greater
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