"Baba Marta (Grandma Marta) was hurring to give martenitsas to everybody"
The Bulgarian tradition has it that on the first of March we wear martenitsa for health and good luck! The colours of the intertwined white and red threads carry the symbolism of antiquity: the colour red is symbolic of strength, blood, the sun and tholina, and the colour white - of goodness, light and purity!
And more than 1340 years ago, on the first of March 681...
Legend has it that Khan Asparuh went in search of a new land for the Bulgarians after the Huns had defeated them and captivated his sister Huba. Arriving in the present Bulgarian lands, the khan sent word by falcon to his sister. He told her that he had found a paradise, located south of the Danube and that here would be the Bulgarian state. Huba managed to escape and tied a white silk thread to the falcon to announce her arrival. The bird led her to the new land, but an enemy arrow shot her the bird and her blood dyed the thread into red. After the good news of his sister's arrival, Khan Asparuh began to tear off the white and red twisted thread, tied it to the soldiers' hands and ordered that the two colours should never be separated - as a symbol of the Bulgarian unity. Since then, the twisted thread is called "martenitsa", after the month of March. The white and red thread connects all Bulgarians around the world.
Happy Baba Marta (Grandma Marta)!