On March 1st, we Romanians celebrate Mărțișor to mark the beginning of spring. Mărțișor is a small red and white string, often embellished with trinkets like hearts, clovers, birds, horseshoes, flowers, chimney sweeps, symbolizing renewal, protection, good fortune, love, or the continuity of life.
The red and white colors represent cosmic balance: red for vitality and life and white for purity and snow, embodying the transition from winter to spring.
[Romanian] Dochia e cea întâia zi de primăvară.
În ziua de Dochia, se face mărţişor: un fir de matasă sau lînă roşă, împletucit cu alt fir alb, care apoi se pune la gît, pentru ca purtătoarea să fie rumenă şi albă peste an. Se poartă păn’ în ziua de Sf. Gheorghe şi atunci îl pune pe un trandafir sau pe o creangă de cireş înflorit.
Dochia is the first day of spring.
On Dochia day, we make mărţişor: a thread of red silk or linen weaved with another white thread, which is then placed around the neck so that the wearer will be red and white all year round. It is worn until St. George’s Day when it is placed on a rose or cherry blossom.
From Elena Niculita-Voronca, Traditions and beliefs of the Romanian people, 1903
Similar traditions are observed in the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria (where it is called Martenitsa), or North Macedonia (known as Martinka). These shared cultural practices highlight the interconnected heritage of the Balkan region, which was collectively recognized by UNESCO in 2017 as an element of intangible cultural heritage.
Timestamps: 1:18 – Republic of Bulgaria, 4:42 – Republic of Moldova, 7:09 – Romania
Dr. Șerban Anghelescu, the head of the Ethnological Studies Section of the Romanian Peasant Museum (MȚR), states in a Romanian article that “the origin of the mărțișor is impossible to establish.”
Reports suggested that the custom is 8,000 years old based on discoveries at a site in Schela Cladovei, Mehedinți County (pebbles strung on threads as amulets). However, these claims have been debunked. Adina Boroneant, a research scientist at the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology, explains that there is no connection between the Mărțișor and the archaeological findings at Schela Cladovei.
Additionally, no references to Mărțișor before the 19th century have been discovered. This doesn’t necessarily imply that the custom did not exist. Still, Anghelescu suggests that people may not have found it noteworthy to document something that was common practice at the time.
An interesting connection exists between the ancient Roman March New Year and the Mărțișor tradition. Some scholars believe this Romanian spring tradition has roots in these Roman celebrations of the New Year in March, as the word “Mărțișor” itself is the diminutive of “Martie” (March), meaning “little March.” In ancient Rome, the New Year was celebrated on the 1st of March until 153 BC. In 153 BCE, the Romans officially moved the New Year to January 1, primarily for administrative reasons, as this was the time when newly elected consuls began their one-year terms of office. This change became permanent with Julius Caesar’s calendar reform (the Julian calendar) in 46 BCE.
In the past, in Romania, women would make a string of two twisted woolen threads of different colors (black and white, later red and white). The strings are believed to represent “funia anului” – the year’s “rope”. These mărţişoare (plural of mărţişor) would be offered to community members who would wear it around the neck or wrist or pinned to their clothes. Later on, when pendants were attached to the mărţişor string, people believed that the mărţişor amulets would protect, depending on the region, the good health and beauty of the wearer, their houses, and their domestic animals.
The tradition of the mărţişor in Transylvania is deeply linked to apotropaic practices, rituals meant to drive away evil forces and bring prosperity. One of the most distinctive manifestations of this custom is the tying of mărţişor to windows or doors. Windows and doors have always been perceived as a transitional zone between the inner (protected) and the outer (potentially dangerous) world. The tying of the mărțișor to these elements serves protection against the evil eye (deochi – a malevolent force caused by envy or excessive admiration that can bring misfortune, illness, or harm to individuals, animals, or even objects; similar to other Mediterranean and Balkan traditions, e.g., Greek mati or Turkish nazar boncugu) or other bad spirits (zmei and iele), which, according to folklore, became active during the passing of the seasons.
Since I’m from the Moldavian part of Romania, I do not remember tying mărţişor to our windows, doors, or domestic animals. However, during my school years, the girls would give mărţişor to the boys in our class and our brothers and other important men in our lives. In return, we would receive flowers on March 8th.
Nowadays, offering mărţişor has become more of a mutual exchange between women and men, and we all proudly wear our mărţişor.
The period of wearing the mărţişor begins on March 1st, and its length varies from two or three days or eight days up to several weeks in different Romanian areas.
At the end of the festive period, the red and white string is untied and deposited on a tree branch in bloom, under a rock, or thrown into a well. Or we keep mărțișor for the following year.
The oldest recorded mărțișor in Romania seems to date from 1872, and it has the shape of a coin.
Dr. Șerban Anghelescu explains the symbolism:
The girls wore a gold or silver coin around their necks. After wearing it for a while, they would use the coin to buy red wine and sweet curds. It was believed that by doing this, the girls would maintain their beauty throughout the year, with faces as white as cheese and cheeks as rosy as red wine (see Voronca). The remaining thread from the coin was then hung on a flowering tree.
Mărțișor intertwines with the legend of Baba Dochia, when we interpret the weather on the first nine days of March as omens.
Baba Dochia is a central figure in Romanian mythology. The name Dochia likely derives from Eudokia of Heliopolis, a 2nd-century Christian martyr venerated on March 1 in the Byzantine calendar (see Voronca). Over time, this saint merged with pre-Christian traditions, transforming into Baba Dochia (baba meaning “old woman” in Romanian).
In one legend, Dochia is the daughter of Decebal, the last king of Dacia. Fleeing Roman Emperor Trajan’s forces after her father’s defeat in 106 CE, she climbs Ceahlău Mountain and implores the Dacian god Zalmoxis to save her from capture. Zalmoxis transforms her and her flock into stone, immortalizing her as an impressive stone from the Ceahlău Mountain. Others consider the Babele and Sphinx rock formations in Bucegi to be Dochia and her flock.
More commonly, Dochia is depicted as an elderly woman who torments her daughter-in-law. In this version, she assigns impossible tasks, such as washing black wool until it turns white and gathering wild strawberries from the snow-covered mountain. Divine intervention (often via God or a boy called Mărțișor) aids the girl, tricking Baba Dochia into believing spring has arrived. Baba Dochia goes up the mountain with her flock of sheep, wearing either nine or twelve sheepskin coats and sometimes taking her son. Despite warnings that winter lingers, she dismisses them with mockery. She sheds her coats one by one as the weather warms, but it soon gets cold again. Baba Dochia, her son and flock freeze on the mountain and are transformed into rocks.
In Romania, the first nine days of March are known as Babele. During this period, we choose a day from one to nine (to pick a baba) to predict how the coming year will be. If the chosen day is sunny and bright, it signifies a happy and prosperous year ahead. If the day is rainy and cold, it suggests that the year may bring tears, sorrow, and financial hardship. Because there is too much at risk, we might be forgiven if we look ahead on the weather prognosis for the first days of March before picking a baba.
Baba Dochia’s death on March 9 marks the end of winter’s reign. March 9 also commemorates the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Roman soldiers executed in 320 AD for refusing to renounce Christianity. According to hagiography, they were cast into a frozen lake, where the water miraculously warmed, and divine crowns descended upon them. The date aligns with the start of the agrarian calendar, symbolizing the thawing earth and preparation for planting. Therefore, on this day, many rituals are performed in Romania to ward off the frost, such as beating the ground with sticks or clubs, chanting incantations to bring out the warmth and chase away the frost, or children playing over the fire.
Women prepare mucenici (or sfintisori, meaning “little saints”), which are figure-eight-shaped pastries symbolizing both the eternal crowns of martyrs and infinity (represented by the ∞ symbol) or a human form of the martyrs.
There are regional variations in how these pastries are made. In Moldova and Dobruja, the pastries are baked and then glazed with honey and walnuts.
Video Credit: Retetele Mihaelei
In Muntenia, they are boiled in syrup with cinnamon, mimicking the frozen lake of the martyrs.
Video Credit: Retetele Mihaelei
Traditionally, while women make 40 festive mucenici, men enjoy 40 glasses of wine.
I am writing this article while wearing my favorite mărțișor, a four-leaf clover charm. As our daughter picked her mărțișor, I couldn’t help but think about how my grandparents, and perhaps even their grandparents, made their own. And after they wore them, they hung them on trees, wishing for good luck. After all, aren’t we the threads woven by hundreds of ancestors? And after all, don’t we all need a bit of good luck to protect against bad spirits?