It's that time of the year, when many of us can't wait for spring to arrive. Winter seems to be over, the snow is gone mostly, the temperature is still around freezing point, the sun is shining sometimes, but still not sign of spring.
This is the period when people get really bored of winter. I'm holding strong as I know we're closer to spring and with a little bit of luck we can get much more sunshine the coming weeks.
Usually this is the time when I'm looking at photos I took over the last year to enjoy those moments again and today I'd like to share a few with you. Maybe your days are grey as well and maybe you could use a little help, some colors in your life :)
So this alley looks very different now. Those lovely green leaves are long gone, there are only the naked branches which can look nice when there's no overcast and the sky is blue.
This is the time when I'm counting the days till the flower market is organized for welcoming spring. There's a tradition in my country, that is kept alive for a long time. On the 1st of March women are gifted a symbol of spring, which can be of various forms. It is called Mărțișor, which is the diminutive of March.
This is how the modern era Mărțișor looks like.
Mărțișor (Romanian pronunciation: [mərt͡siˈʃor]) is a celebration at the beginning of spring, on March the 1st in Romania, Moldova and all territories inhabited by Romanians.
The word Mărțișor is the diminutive of Marț, the old folk name for March (martie, in modern Romanian), and thus literally means "little March".
Mărțișor, marț and mărțiguș are all names for the red and white string with hanging tassel customarily given on the 1st day of March. In the olden times, the string could be red and black. Giving this talisman to people is an old custom, and it is believed that the wearer will be strong and healthy for the year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. Usually, both women and men wear it pinned to their clothes, close to the heart, until the last day of March, when they tie it to a fruit-tree twig. In some regions, a gold or silver coin hangs on the string and is worn around the neck. After wearing it for a certain length of time, they buy red wine and sweet cheese with the coin, according to a belief that their faces would remain white as cheese and rubicund as wine all year. source
As a correction to the above citation, I have to tell you that men don't wear such thing and are not given Mărțișor either. In my region only women are gifted Mărțișor.
These look more like the old ones, when I was in elementary school. I remember it was like a popularity contest, after classes we counted how many we got.
Back in those days these were very simple and because they symbolize spring and luck, most of them were snowdrops, clovers, chimney sweepers, ladybugs, hearts of course and horse shoes.
These days you can buy bracelets, key chains, even hair ties. But it's also common to give women flower.
I like to go to these fairs as sometimes it can be a lot of fun. You can always find some kitschy things, maybe cheap as well, but there's always new stuff that worth admiring.
The problem is, the market is so saturated, they start selling these as early as the beginning of February and most of the times the ones left from previous years are on display again. Customers are obviously looking for something new and interesting, so you have to be creative if you want your products sold.
This is why lately you see new ideas implemented. Last year there was no market due to the pandemic, but there was one in 2020 and I saw recycled fabrics used to create flowers, dry flowers on wood, clay on a nicely drawn paper and so on.
In 2018 I came home with this one as I loved those birds.
In 2020 I bought one of these, that have nothing to do with the event, but I liked it a lot. I'm not a big spender nor have I a huge collection of accessories but sometimes it's good to buy yourself something.
Today I was thinking what would I do this year. Should I go to the fair and maybe waste my time as I see the same products? Most likely I'm going to pay it a visit and focus on new products, see if there's something interesting this year that I can show you. I'm going to spare you of the boring stuff and myself too.
