Spring & 1st of March

1st of March symbolizes spring, even though the official start of Spring happens a bit later in March. There's a tradition in my country, called Mărțișor and this is what I want to write about today.

Mărțișor is a tradition celebrated at the beginning of Spring in March, involving an object made from two intertwined red and white strings with hanging tassel. It is practiced in Romania and Moldova, and very similar to Martenitsa tradition in Bulgaria, Martinka in North Macedonia and traditions of other populations from Southeastern Europe.

This is a day I'm always expecting, but not for the usual reasons. I remember when I joined Hive (or better said, the legacy chain) in January 2018, when this event was approaching, I did a post about it, as I wanted to share the event with those from other countries. This is a good way to learn about other nations' tradition and widen your knowledge about other people's culture.

I remember there was a girl from Bulgaria, she also posted about the event and I was so surprised but very happy to see they have the same tradition. They had different products, but the meaning was the same. She's not active anymore, unfortunately, like so many others from those times.

The essence of this tradition is to gift ladies these so called mărțișoare (this is the plural of the word), as a symbol of spring. It's a polite and friendly gesture that has evolved over the years and can reach unimaginable levels, based on wealth and connection between the two parties.

When I was a school girl, we could hardly wait to get these at school from the boys and who got the most, was the most popular girl, for this reason. However, those were different times as we had simple ones, like clovers, chimney sweepers, snowdrops, ladybugs, horseshoes, all symbolizing luck basically. We pinned them on our coat and wore them for a week I think.

Today simplicity and the original purpose is long gone, al these went out of the window a long time ago and you see gold plated jewellery, diamonds, you name it. Anyway, let's get back to today's topic and see what I saw today in the market.

After Christmas and New Year, this is the first event celebrated by everyone. Thus the municipality is hosting the market in the city center, which is an event for a whole week before the 1st of March, after which comes the flower market for the 8th or March, which is International Women's Day.

The past few years I noticed a tendency to break away from the old, sometimes kitschy models and bring on something more original and creative. Basically this is the reason why I went to the market today, to see what the crafters, artists came up with this year. The truth is, you need to create something new and unique if you want to make money, but to my disappointment, the majority of the products were the same old ones and kitsch (or what I call kitsch) was dominating. I tried to avoid those and only took photos of the ones i found interesting, but everything is subjective, so I'll let you decide if I'm right or not.

I'm going to start with this batch, which have nothing to do with mărțișoare, this is jewellery, which can also be gifted on the 1st, but looked so good, so here they are. Necklaces with earrings, 10 euro a set, plus I saw bracelets as well. Some were really calling my name, especially those kiwi greens, but were not my style.

These mărțișoare are seasonal products, sold once a year, so most of the artists brought other products too, like those mugs and soup bowls.

The old mărțișoare were brooches, with a pin, but life is evolving, so today we have bracelets and even key holders.

We're talking about small, brooch size products here, so some of the artists got creative and used waste materials, like leftover leather for example, or fabrics, which is a very good way to recycle and reuse.

Unfortunately the light was working against me to avoid my shadow on the photo, many times I had to shoot from the side.

These were super cute, 1 euro a piece and you could find all themes there.

This photo is dedicated to @mipiano 😆. She's a piano artist, if you don't know her. I was trying to decide which one she would like, but couldn't. But I know which one I like. I liked most of these, because were simple and colorful.

These were hand painted and lovely. I'd pick handmade items over mass production any day.

These had nothing to do with the event, but looked good. Pendants, key chains, small flower decorations, you name it. The important thing is to give a gift. Doesn't have to be fancy though. The gesture is what counts.

These were painted on wood. Basically you take any leftover wood pieces, cut out these using a stance, then paint them and you get a nice product. Live it. Simple, elegant and original as well.

These were really cool, but I prefer silver or white gold, when it comes to jewellery and even if I go for something like this, the truth is, there's a limit to everything and I'm not the type of woman to get 10 boxes of jewellery.

This proves, there's no limit to creativity and original ideas. This crafter had butterfly mărțișoare, of all kind and colors. Nice idea.

And there has to be some fun as well, so here you could buy all kinds of cartoon characters, as well fruits and veggies. Why not?

Earrings anyone?

These were new to me. Each piece had a message in Romanian. It's an interesting idea, but I'd go with the simple ones still.

These were closer to the traditional ones.

These were really cool and it's the first time I see such ones. It may seem a bit creepy as there were mostly human organ forms, painted, colorful, but a really original idea.

All in all it was interesting, but I was expecting more, or better, or different.

The next event is the flower market next week, so most likely I'm going to show up and take some close-ups, or who knows. We'll see.

Now let's see. Do you have this tradition in your country? Or have you heard about it?

You can read more about the history of the tradition here.

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