As the customs goes, we went to the church at midnight to “get the light”. The priest comes out of the church with a lit candle which quickly gets spread around the crowd. It’s supposed to bring luck, if you can get it home without blowing it. After the short sermon we were invited at a friends house where we had fun with Easter eggs tapping. Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!
This was my second choice for yesterday’s Theme Day: Easter eggs colored by my mother-in-law, to be enjoyed on Sunday.
I woke up yesterday morning, March 11, to discover that it was snowing heavily outside. I don’t think there’s anyone out there to deny that this winter was a rather harsh one. Usually, at the beginning of March, Bucharest enjoys a warmer weather, with a bit of sun. Well, not this year. Climate change anyone?
By today the snow has turned to rain and whatever gathered on the ground turned into a disagreeable slush.
Not a very inspiring photo but I couldn’t think of anything else for this subject. On March 8th we celebrate International Women’ Day, another occasion for men to express their love for the women in their lives. Wikipedia has a very interesting page on this subject. They describe Women’s Day being celebrated in Eastern Europe as a mixture between Mother’s Day and St. Valentine’s Day. I think that’s a very good description. Most men just buy flowers for the women close to them or for the women they know they’re going to meet on March 8th and a gift for the wife/girlfriend. As this follows very close to Mărţisor celebration I have to say that March must be the best month for a Romanian florist.
A Trabby painted with scary faces and the like, which looks not to have been taken out of its parking spot in a while.
Versiune în română
After two weeks of somewhat warmer temperatures and a trace of the sun shining through, someone up there decided that the citizens of Bucharest have behaved badly and need to be punished. As if the grey sky and the rain weren’t enough, today we got ourselves a bit of sleet.
Today’s photo was intended for yesterday, but since I decided to participate in the Theme Day of the City Daily Photo website, I kept it for today. Mărţisor is a traditional celebration taking place every year on March 1st and marking the arrival of spring. Its name comes from the name of the month of March (martie in Romanian) and literally it means “little” March. On this day the custom is to give small objects as a gift to those close to you, all this objects having one thing in common, a red and white string which is tied to the object. Usually men give this gifts to women and women (only) wear them pinned to their shirts for luck. The wikipedia article linked above cites that in the past this objects were seen as talismans or charms while today they have “became more of a symbol of friendship and love, appreciation and respect”. The article also talks about this custom being very old, with many ethnologists saying that its roots go as far as the Roman Empire or the Thracians. It is a nice custom and a good way for artists to make some money by selling hand made “mărtişoare” – the small object given as a gift bears the same name as the name of the celebration: mărţişor.
When snowdrops and hyacinths can be found for sale on the street than it’s a sure thing that spring is coming.
What do you do when you have no space to store your bicycles over winter? I guess the answer would be: you improvise 🙂
Finally! The temperature is above zero. To be more exact my outside thermometer is registering 5 degrees Celsius at this moment (2PM). It’s the second time the temperature raised above zero in the last week (the other time it happened was on Tuesday). Snow’s melting and walking the sidewalks in the city center feels like being in the shower because of the water dripping from the roofs. Which is why the statues in today’s photographs look like they just took a bath.
