Bulgarians today honor the Baba Martha custom, which is one of the most celebrated Bulgarian customs with a thousand-year tradition - most probably pagan.
On this holiday everyone gives their loved ones a special amulet called martenitsa for health and strength next year.
Martenitsi are made only for March 1, when, according to the Bulgarian people, the new economic year begins.
On March 1, people, trees, and animals fastened for health and success with martenitsa made from twisted white and red thread.
They are worn either by March 9 - the feast of the Holy 40 Martenitsa, or by March 25 - Annunciation. Martenitsa can also be removed at the first sight of a stork, a swallow, a cuckoo or a blooming tree.
Martenitsa is made from two twisted threads - red and white. In some regions of the country, the threads are only red, others are multicolored but predominantly red.
This color, according to the people's belief, has the power of the sun and gives vitality to every being.
The white color symbolizes purity, innocence, and joy. In Bulgarian traditions, white is also a sign of beauty, and red is the color of vitality, of health and love, of victory, of life and courage, of the light of the rising and setting sun.
According to legends, the first martenitsa was made by Ahinoras, the wife of Khan Asparuh, in the second half of the seventh century, when Asparuh crossed the Danube and discovered the lands around the Balkans for the Bulgarians. Achinora long waited for her beloved, and finally, she tied the swan of a white and red thread and let the bird deliver her message of health and love.
This old-fashioned, most probably pagan custom is considered to be a unique Bulgarian tradition, although in a slightly changed form it is also present in Romania. There the martensite is called "marshish" and is worn only by women, and in northern Greece, only the children wear it like a bracelet made of twisted white and red thread.
The custom is preserved in the neighboring countries where Bulgarians have moved through the centuries - it is noted in the southern parts of Moldavia where ethnic Bulgarians live.
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source - http://www.edna.bg
pic source - pixabay.com