Baba Marta Day (Martenitsa)
1 March 2026 — Happy Baba Marta Day! Health and a bright spring to you!
On 1 March Bulgarians celebrate Baba Marta Day and exchange martenitsi: small adornments made of twisted white and red threads. The best known are Pizho and Penda, a male and a female doll, often tied together. Tradition says a martenitsa protects against illness and harm; white stands for purity, red for vitality and health. People pin it to a sleeve or clothing and wear it until they see the first stork, swallow or blossoming tree. Afterwards it is often tied to a branch or left under a stone. Baba Marta (Grandma March) is a folk figure linked to the changeable weather of early spring. The day marks the threshold of spring, as daylight grows longer and the spring equinox, around 20 March, draws near. In 2017, the Cultural Practices Associated to the 1st of March were inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage as a shared heritage of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Moldova and Romania. This shows how widespread the custom is across South-Eastern Europe.
Flying across the sky: Two ethereal, bluish-silver figures made of luminous dots and fine lines like a moving constellation: a small male and a female doll joined by a faint twisting thread, chasing each other playfully across the night sky
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