Martisor 2009

In past years, I wrote both a rather academic article about Martisor and rewrote an old folktale. I thought I should try something different this year. I therefore made a little video about the Martisor Festival. It is not brilliant by any means but perhaps it captures a little of the tradition and symbolism involved.

I am not from Eastern Europe where this Festival is celebrated enthusiastically by most of the population and I therefore never could claim to be an expert in Martisor traditions, but it is a Festival that won my own heart and therefore has become a tradition for me. I hope this little video may inspire some one else to adopt the Martisor as an annual tradition.

Martisor Amulets

This Martisor greeting card displays snowdrops, traditional heralds of Spring known as 'ghiocei', with a Martisor amulet. I particularly like this one, as the Martisor talisman is created in the form of an ancient fertility symbol, displaying male and female united as one. One poppet is red, symbolising power, strength, and the power of the sun, while the other is white, symbolising purity and the power of the full moon but each is bound with threads of the opposite colour. Both sun and moon are fertility symbols, united in this Martisor. Incidentally, the little threads bound at the chests create an ancient rune of fertility, the Dagaz rune that symbolises the transformation moment between night and day.