Mărțișor is a tradition celebrated at the beginning of spring, in March, involving an object made of two intertwined red and white strings, from which a tassel hangs. It is practiced in Romania and Moldova, and is very similar to the Martenitsa tradition from Bulgaria, Martinka from North Macedonia, and the traditions of other populations from southeastern Europe.
The word "Mărțișor" is the diminutive of "marț", the old folk name for the month of March ("martie" in modern Romanian) and literally means "little March". The tradition originates from the Roman celebration of the New Year on March 1st.
The modern tradition involves wearing this small object on the chest, as a brooch or lapel pin, during the first part of the month, starting from March 1st. Some older traditions held that it should be worn from the first new moon in March until the next important celebration for the local community, which could be anywhere between March 9 and May 1, or until the first tree blossoms appeared, depending on the area. It was also more commonly worn tied around the wrist or as a necklace.
It is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Object
Nowadays, a Mărțișor is made of silk strings, almost exclusively red and white. Before the 19th century, various other colors were used: black and white in Mehedinți and Aromanian communities, red only in Vâlcea, Romanați, Argeș, Neamț, and Vaslui, black and red in Brăila, white and blue in Vrancea, or even more colors in areas of southern Transylvania and Moldova. The material used could also be wool, linen, cotton, or silk.
Talismans were attached to the strings, mostly coins, usually silver, or cross-shaped pendants. Later, these ornaments were modeled to resemble various images, such as four-leaf clovers, ladybugs, snowdrops, etc. The Bulgarian Martenitsa models the tassel into small dolls called Pijo and Penda. In Moldova, the pendant began to be made in the form of ethnographic objects in the latter part of the 20th century.
Observers of the tradition have offered general explanations for the object's appearance: the strings are believed to represent the "rope of the year" — the thread of the year, weaving summer and winter, while the pendant symbolized wealth and prosperity or, like a talisman, brought and preserved the wearer's health and beauty.
The Tradition
The custom of giving and wearing the Mărțișor is a national tradition among Romanians, Moldovans, and Aromanians. Similar customs include Martenitsa, celebrated by Bulgarians, and Martinka by Macedonians, while other communities, such as Albanians, Turks from the Ohrid region, Greeks from northern Greece, the islands of Rhodes, Dodecanese and Karpathos, Gagauz people, and the diaspora of these populations also practice local variants of the custom.
The object was mainly worn by children and women, less so by men, and rarely by the elderly. Almost every region had a different time interval for how long it should be kept, ranging from 2-3 days in the Iași region of Moldova to 2-3 months in the Vâlcea region of Oltenia. Very often, the end of this period was associated with signs of spring in the natural world: the return of migratory birds such as swallows and white storks, the blooming of fruit trees (apple, cherry), the blooming of roses, or the next significant celebration in the calendar.
When the object is removed, it is customary to tie it to a tree branch or place it on a fence, as a gift for migratory birds returning from the south. Less common north of the Danube, but often recorded in Dobruja, was the practice of leaving the Mărțișor under a rock, with the type of insects found at the spot being interpreted as omens, throwing it into a spring or river (Gorj), or even burning it. In modern times, these are often kept as souvenirs.
The tradition is placed alongside other spring celebrations marking the cycle of the year: agricultural communities associated it with the end of winter and the beginning of spring. In particular, it is connected to the days of "Baba Dochia", a mythological figure in Romanian folklore, and to the month of March, which in antiquity was the beginning of the year.
Source: Wikipedia - Mărțișor