March 1st...

When Nik and I were walking around downtown last week we saw several stands and street vendors selling what looked like plastic trinkets, fake flowers and bracelets, and had no idea why people seemed so excited about so much junky stuff. I learned on Saturday night, that Sunday was Mârţişor, the traditional celebration of the beginning of spring. Tradition has it that spring and summer weather will be the same as the 1st of March, and that if a mârţişor is worn, good luck and good health will follow throughout the rest of the year. A mârţişor is a small bracelet made of two threads, one red and one white, whose colours symbolize summer and winter, vitality and life, and death. Apparently, in old times, March 1st marked the beginning of the new year, and it was important to ward off evil spirits and encourage the good ones to come a’knocking. Some of these mârţişor have trinkets or coins tied to them, as traditionally, girls would use the coin to buy fresh cheese and red wine, in order to “blush like the wine” and be “as white as the cheese.” Maybe this is why we fell into the massive pothole – we weren’t wearing our mârţişors… doh!

There are many stories and traditions surrounding this day – too many to list here (or read) – but the first nine days of March are called the “Nine Old Ladies,” and I’m not completely sure why. The first day of spring is also the day of an ancient agrarian deity, Baba Dochia, who died on March 1st (the spring equinox in the old folk calendar) and was revived on March 9th (the beginning of the new agrarian year). This must be related to the story of the nine (sometimes 12) coats; though there are many different versions of this story, this is basically how it goes. Baba Dochia (or an old lady, evil in most versions) is fooled by the weather into taking off her nine coats during the first nine days of spring. While I’d prefer a happy ending, it seems as though spring wasn’t over (bad weather days were borrowed from February?) and the woman freezes and dies. Sad ending for a spring story! In any case, these first nine days are associated with women – because of the fertility of spring I assume, and traditionally, there’s a superstition and habit for women to choose one of the nine days (beforehand) and the weather on that day will be a forecast of their luck for the year. I should have picked today! It was beautiful outside. I went for a long walk on the beach and… came home to internet!

Signs of Spring! Outside our apartment building this morning...

Last night the team manager told Steve that someone would come to set up internet in our apartment between 10 and 12 this morning. Because Steve left for Bucharest at 9, and I had yoga at 11, I was sure that we’d miss the internet guys and have to visit the smoky cafe for the rest of the year. Imagine my surprise (and luck!) when the doorbell rang at 9:55 - seriously! They were in and out of here in 15 minutes, and they spoke English! Finally we are reconnected with the rest of the world… YAY!