The true story of Baba Marta and the first Martenitsa translated BY ANN WOOD
There is hardly a Bulgarian who has not heard at least one or two beliefs related to Baba Marta or has not listened to legends about the origin of this ancient custom.Did you know that the custom of tying martenitsa is actually pagan?
According to the belief, on March 1, people, trees and animals are adorned for health and success with martenitsa made of twisted white and red thread. They are worn either until March 9 - the church holiday of the 40 Holy Martyrs, or until March 25 - the Annunciation.
The martenitsa can also be taken off at the first sight of a stork, a swallow, a cuckoo or a blossoming tree.
As we all know, martenitsa are necessarily made of two twisted threads - red and white. In some regions of the country, the threads are only red, in others - multi-colored, but with red prevailing.
This color, according to popular 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, health and love, of victory, of life and courage, of the light of the rising and setting sun.
According to legend, the first martenitsa was made by Ahinora, the wife of Khan Asparuh, in the second half of the 7th century, when Asparuh crossed the Danube and discovered the lands around the Balkans for the Bulgarians. Ahinora waited for her beloved for a long time and finally tied a twisted white thread to the foot of a swallow and released the bird to convey her message of health and love.
The bird traveled for a long time, and the thread injured its leg and turned into blood - that's how it got its red color. In the end, she found the inn and landed at it exactly on March 1.
Although decorating with martenitsa is considered a unique Bulgarian tradition, it is also present in Romania, albeit in a slightly modified form. There, the martenitsa is called "martsishor" and is worn only by women, and in Northern Greece, only children wear it as a bracelet made of twisted white and red thread. The custom is also preserved in nearby countries where Bulgarians have migrated over the centuries - it is noted in the southern parts of Moldova, where about 90,000 ethnic Bulgarians live.
The customs in our country related to martenitsa are also interesting. In the Razgrad region, in the morning at sunrise, every housewife throws a red cloth on one of the fruit trees in the garden, "to make Baba Marta laugh". In the Troyan region, on March 1, before sunrise, the housewives of every home tie a red woolen thread on the door locks, on the fruit trees, and on the horns of cattle.
In Haskovo, the grandmother who ties martenitsa for the children of the family early before dawn dresses entirely in red outerwear. Hence the folk belief that Baba Marta visits people and crops dressed in a red cloth, covered with a red scarf, and wearing red socks.
Short story by Ann Wood
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Written on 2026-03-01 at 15:01
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