Martisor – The Beginning of Spring

We’ve all had a long cold winter and I for one am looking forward to warm, spring days.

In Romania, spring stars with Martisor, which is the 1^st of March. Martisor is a very old tradition: they say that the Sun came down on Earth, in the form of a young man, to enjoy a folk dance with the villagers. The Evil Griffon saw him and kidnapped him, locking him up in a dungeon. The nature suffered a great deal: rivers stopped running, birds stopped singing, and children stopped laughing.

Until one day, when a young man decided to face the Griffon and free the Sun. It took him 3 seasons to find the dark castle: summer, autumn and winter. The young man fought the Griffon for many days before defeating him.

Week and badly injured, he managed to reach the dungeon where the Sun was held captive, setting him free. He died after that, staining the white snow with his blood.

The Sun took back his place in the sky and spring came.

Since then, the white and red string is given to our loved ones. The red signifies the love of all that is beautiful and the white is the purity of the first flower of spring, the snowdrop.

Nowadays, it is customary the every girl and woman receive one Martisor.

Tradition says that the Martisor can be worn until the cherry blossoms. Then the white and red string is hanged in their branches. Even nowadays, there are some villages that keep this tradition alive.

We wish you a beautiful and worm spring!