First day of spring - Mărțișor

foto Mărțișor (see links end of article)

​Sitting outside in the first spring sun of 2016, just before March 1st, my intention was to write about raw chocolate and my up-coming "Taste the Chocolate" day (I will still write about it later today, it's on March 4th).

But as right now it feels like the beginning of spring (out of the wind and in full sun in my little garden in The Hague, NL), while V is playing (throwing) with sand outside and I listen to the first bird's song this year, I feel the nostalgy of spring in Romania.

In RO, on March 1st, people exchange the Mărțișor (untranslatable, see picture) and it's for everybody the launching of spring.

The few days before, everybody is busy-busy-busy buying and/or making Mărțișoare, and making lists with people they want to surprise with one.
​
"Mărțișoare" are small things, with a white and red thread attached to them, and they symbolize Love.

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