By the end of the month, though, she has calmed down, and it’s time for spring to begin in earnest. Finally, she gets so fed up with them that on March 1, she whirls up a big storm and blows them away. Her older brothers, Big Sechko and Little Sechko - January and February, respectively - are always playing tricks on her and getting on her nerves. Baba Marta is an old grouchy woman who lives up in the Rhodope Mountains. My mother Evelina, who was born in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, told me this version when I was 6 years old. Her story originated from the Balkan pagan tradition and it comes in many variations. We celebrate her arrival on March 1 with the greeting, “Chestita Baba Marta, ” which essentially means “Happy March!” We keep honoring her until the end of the month. Literally “Grandmother March,” Baba Marta is the personification of the month that signifies the beginning of springtime. ![]() Bulgarian culture has a name for that: Baba Marta. It’s the month that bridges the gap between winter and spring, and it’s so temperamental that 70-degree weather turns to hail in a matter of hours. We watch the snow give way to budding tree branches, get buffeted by the cold wind tunnels between tall buildings, and, this year, even got somewhat of a spring break. I offer this journey only every five years, to coincide with the renowned Koprivshtitsa folk festival, where you will see real-life babi, singing, dancing and performing rituals, wearing traditional costumes made by hand and rich in symbolic wisdom. There are just a few places left on this women-only journey, so book now.March brings a lot of things. If you feel moved to discover more about vanishing women’s ritual traditions and dances of Bulgaria, join my Sacred Journey to Bulgaria this August 4-16, 2015. So wherever you are, don't worry: you too are in perfect alignment with the spiral of life… and what goes down, must come up, like the newly sprouting seeds of spring. These simple steps can help you deepen your awareness and open the doors to your own wisdom and intuition.Ībove all, the women’s dances help us to understand the naturalness of this cosmic cycle, to feel at home with it, and to discover the joy of the journey, whichever part of the path of descent and return we may find ourselves on. ![]() ![]() You can take a few moments to reflect by writing in a journal, sitting in meditation or spending quiet time in nature. As you dance (and I hope you are dancing), I invite you to ask yourself: what change would you like to invoke in your life, and what are you ready to release in order to make space for the new? My approach to traditional women’s dances aims to strengthen our understanding of them as tools for personal transformation, and our ability to work with them consciously, so naturally the dances can help us align with this ancient springtime process. And of course our own life paths ‘decide’ when to take us through surprising cycles of symbolic death and rebirth, which may last days, weeks, months, years regardless of the external cycles of the sun, the moon and seasons. We experience this powerful spiral of release and renewal every day, too, every lunar cycle, every time we dance, and in all sorts of other ways. The balance between these two poles is also the dance of inner and outer, shadow and light, and the labyrinth of the Lenten/Easter cycle of descent and resurrection. Like the dance of Shiva, this dance of creation and destruction is in Her hands. She also wields the destructive power of spring storms. You tie the twist of red and white thread - often with a Goddess-resembling double tassel - around your wrist or to your clothes for a few days or weeks, until you see the first storks, cuckoos or swallows, or a beautifully flowering fruit tree. Then you throw the martenitsa into flowing water, place it under a stone near a river or tie it to a special tree which shows vigorous buds and abundant new growth.īaba Marta is the wise woman who has the power to bring new life into the world: ‘Baba’ means both ‘grandmother’ and ‘midwife’. ![]() Red and white are the colours of life and of cleansing, and bring protection, health, prosperity and renewal. On March 1st in Bulgaria, Romania and Greek Thrace, people honour Baba Marta by giving each other martenitsas: amulets of twisted red and white yarn. It’s early spring and the tender signs of new life awakening appear everywhere, somehow surviving the wild storms which are also gifts of Baba Marta. March 1 is the day of Baba Marta, ‘Grandma March’ – the Bulgarian Grandmother Goddess of Springtime.
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