Human Flower Project

Martenitsa—To Make It Through

To endure the last weeks of winter, Bulgarians exchange red and white amulets and then pass the good wish on to a tree.

Neli Nikolova stands before bare branches in Louisville, Kentucky, with the key to surviving March, a Bulgarian martenitsa

Photo: Human Flower Project

Will it be mukluks and flip-flops? One night, you frost; the next day, it’s throbbing sunshine. So goes March.

Contrariety is a hard quality to honor, but in Bulgaria they do. Last week, Nedyalka Nikolova presented us with a “martenista,” the traditional good luck token of this month. In Nedyalka’s homeland, people exchange these red and white amulets in the early days of March to tide them over in the fickle, final weeks of winter.

Martenitsas, woven from cotton or wool thread, are meant to ward off the crankiness of Baba Marta (“Grandmother March”) and bring good health.  There are many legends associated with these spring accessories. Some hark back to Zoroastrianism and the founding of Bulgaria itself. But the giving and receiving of martinitsas is popular too among the nation’s avant-garde —junior high school students. It’s one of those rare folksy customs that’s still very much alive and swinging. As Neli tied our red and white martinitsa on there wasn’t a trace of “once upon a time, in olden days.” This is just what you do for a friend.

Doll-like martenitsa (also known as Pizho and Penda) hang from a blossoming fruit tree

Photo: Preslav via wiki

Making this a human flower project is the martenitsa’s follow-through. It’s to be worn around the wrist (or pinned on the chest or even dropped inside a shoe) until one sees clear-cut assurance that spring has come. We’ve read that sighting the first stork of the year is one sure sign. But Neli looks for the first blossom on a fruit tree. Then it’s safe to remove your martinitsa and tie it to a branch, sending on all that good health one has enjoyed in this iffy month to the tree for the important weeks it has ahead.

Here’s a flickr set devoted to Martenitza and another site with instructions (and musical accompaniment) for how to make your own.

Many thanks, Neli, for this beautiful gift.

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