Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

As Granny Marta approaches…

Photo: BGNES


If you take a stroll in the streets of Sofia or any other town in the country you will find the colours red and white everywhere. Because on this last day of February everyone wants to choose a martenitsa for their loved ones – an amulet of health, which people in Bulgaria attach to their clothes on the first day of March.

The last day of February is our last chance to make martenitsas for family and friends ourselves.  We do it to wish them health, success and luck. Dimka Dilkova who combined martenitsas and Bulgarian embroidery has her own interpretation of the colour symbolism: “The red and the white are symbols of womanhood and manhood,” she says.

Find out more about the different techniques used to make the typically Bulgarian symbols of the coming spring – the martenitsas here.
 
Editing by Elena Karkalanova



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

The tradition of sending Easter cards in Bulgaria dates back to the Liberation

When we have a special occasion where we meet relatives or friends, as a sign of respect and as a memory, we usually present them with a gift, complete with a beautiful card. In the past, the card received was kept as a cherished memory and even passed..

published on 5/4/24 4:35 AM

The egg - a symbol of fertility and new life in Bulgarian folklore

Holy Thursday is one of the two days in the Holy Week when we dye eggs for Easter. Tradition dictates that the oldest woman in the family takes on this important task, and the first egg is always dyed red.  The Red Egg – symbol of the..

published on 5/2/24 4:35 AM
The Radio Sofia building

When the BNR “spoke” Polish

Today, the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign language service Radio Bulgaria “speaks” 11 languages. Through the years, languages have been added, others have been dropped – something that happened to the Polish-language programmes. They were aired by..

published on 2/16/24 7:10 AM