Romania. It’s everywhere.
My son’s best friend’s parents emigrated to Germany from Romania (after their ancestors had emigrated from Germany TO Romania generations earlier). They like to tell me all about the foods and things they miss from the Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) area where they grew up and are very proud that the capital of the area, Sibiu (Hermannstadt), was a UNESCO world culture site in 2007. My husband spent the better part of last summer and fall in Constanta. He also ran a half marathon on the other side of the country in Timisoara. He sent me pictures of the big socialist building projects in Bucharest and the art nouveau casino on the Black Sea.
A year, or more, ago I answered a question on another blog for Daniela in Romania and since then we’ve occasionally emailed back and forth. Today she sent me a wonderful box of goodies in celebration of Martzishor.

I had no idea of the existence of this custom or holiday, so it pleases me to broaden my horizons. Daniela was worried that the box wouldn’t arrive in time, but the delivery man was at the door first thing in the morning today, March 1st. We were getting ready to leave the house, but knowing the contents were time-sensitive, I opened the box and wore one of my Martzishor all day. Daniela says I can even wear them until the 8th. She sent cute little butterfly talismans for the kids too.

The box had lots of other stuff too. There was a book on Romania, some fabric and these beauties:

Starting clockwise from the upper left is a traditional egg. There were two, but sadly one didn’t make it. On the bright side, I already have an egg or two like the one that broke, so the survivor won’t be too lonely. The egg is in a carved spoon which I recognize as a traditional handicraft, but don’t know it’s history. Next is a tiny doll in the Martzishor colors, so I can only assume she’s a harbinger of Spring. She will soon be moving upstairs to live with my mushroom people because I think they will play very well together. Right now, she is sitting on a branch with the spring-y chicks I brought home from last month’s quit guild meeting. The exuberant splash of color is a fabric postcard from Daniela which will grace my growing collection. Pinned to the back of the postcard were the Martzishor I wore today, and the green square one to the left of the card, which I’ll put on tomorrow. Below the card is a third Martzishor with miniscule crocheted or tatted flowers (for the day after tomorrow), and above the green Martzishor is a simple red and white cord (for the day after the day after tomorrow, or my husband). If that’s not enough, underneath the seasonal treasures is a piece of traditional woven cloth which will have to make it into my art sooner or later, and a shoulder bag of woven wool, which based on my skimming of the book, is most likely another traditional craft (and very practical for carrying our library books each week).

Thank you so much for this generous gift Daniela! I absolutely love learning about the celebrations and rites of other countries and cultures and this just makes my day.

What new celebrations, cultures, foods, etc., has blogging brought into your lives?

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under European/American Cultural Exchange. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.