Martisor is so much better than V-day

I just looove the 1’st day of March in which we Romanians celebrate Martisor, the beginning of spring. If you are not familiar with this celebration have a peak here or here.

The “ritual” goes like this: boys and men offer girls, women, moms a small medallion ( here is a very good illustration of the forms this little gift can take ) tied to a red and white string, often accompanied by a flower.  The women are supposed to pin the medallion onto their clothes and wear it for 1 to 2 weeks thus celebrating the arrival of spring. It’s just lovely to walk on the street and see the little symbol at every corner, small, discrete, joyful.

Red and white stand for peace and love.

Unfortunately the tradition has been losing ground lately in the face of more commercial, imported holidays such as Valentine’s Day. Like good quality music to Justin Timberlake.

Why I believe Martisor rules:

It simply does not put any pressure on anybody. V-day pressures those in a relationship to be interesting and do something special (this is the part where if the boy forgot to plan the day he will never hear the end of it in most cases) if they feel like it or not and makes those not in a relationship feel lonely and sad (like Vivi very smartly mentioned)

Martisor is crystal clear, everyone knows exactly what to do: men give they’re loved ones that special little gift (which you can find in many different forms on every corner on every street that particular week) and women childishly accept it.

Thus men don’t compete on who did the coolest stuff on V-day and women boost their ego with every Martisor received, usually the more you get the better you feel even if girls don’t admit it

I strongly believe we should try to export it as Americans exported Valentine’s Day. But may springs will have past until then, taking into consideration that Romania can barely “export” her own country brand, let alone any customs.

It’s a bit late now but maybe next year we bloggers should start an early thought out campaign and show that we are proud of this tradition. This year I join Andressa in her SOS Martisor campaign with this post.