Romania

In Romania people's existence was marked by the big annual religious celebrations and fasting, by starting or finishing agricultural activities, winemaking, or fruit harvesting, or by the seasonal move of the sheep downward in the valleys or up on the mountains. Important were also the times when medicinal or mystical plants were in flower or needed to be picked up. Each of these moments was given a ritual character and a memorable meaning, as people behaved differently, dressed festive and used metaphoric language.
In our country, 1 of March is the day when men offer women a kind of amulet and two knitted silk tassels: a white one and a red one. March 1st marks nature's comes back to life and the beginning of the Lent (Easter Fasting). Some Transylvanian villages celebrate rites of fire purification and keeping away the bad winter spirits known as the Bonfires or Village Shouting.
There are many stories trying to explain the meaning of this ancient custom. The most popular is the one of the young man who fought with the bad dragon in order to release the sun imprisoned in an old castle, impeding the arrival of spring. The young man defeated the dragon, the spring came, but the hero was severely injured. His blood trickled on the white snow. People showed their consideration for the sacrifice of the young man by making amulets: a silver coin with the two tassels, the coin representing the sun, the source of life on the Earth.
Another theory says that red (as the sun and the fire) is the symbol of the vitality of women and white (as the pure cold snow or as the clouds) the wisdom of men, the woman and the man representing by their union the life. In Romanian the amulet is called "martisor", its name coming from the month of March (martie in Romanian). A long time ago, the women used to offer the amulets to the man they loved, but today the things are changed, men offer these amulets to all women they know or work with, as an expression of their consideration. Other traditional amulets are: chimney-sweeper, horseshoes and clover sheets.
That is the first celebration of spring in Romania.
A week later, on 9 of March, is the religious holiday of "Mucenici", a kind of All Saints' Day, celebrated in memoriam of the 40 martyrs killed in Sevastia because of their religion - Christianity, about more than 1500 years ago. Housewives prepare pretzels in form of number 8, then they make a kind of soup with a lot of sugar, nuts and cinnamon and of course the pretzels. There is also a tradition to drink 44 glasses of wine.
But the most important religious holiday in Romania is, of course, Easter. Romanians paint eggs especially in red. Romanian folklore presents several Christian legends which explain why the eggs are painted in red on Easter and why they became the symbol of the celebration of Christ's Resurrection. Easter is one of the major Christian holidays, yet its celebration is uniquely influenced by ancient fertility rites connected to the spring equinox. In some Romanian villages, Easter is celebrated alongside with pre-christian customs that relate to universal human symbols such as fire, water, the egg, and the wheat (bread).
The most wide-spread legend tells us about Virgin Mary, who came to mourn her crucified son, laid the basket with eggs near the cross and they reddened because of the blood that was flowing from Jesus’ wounds. The Lord, seeing that the eggs reddened, said to those who were there: "From now on, you too shall paint the eggs in red to remember my crucifixion, as I did today." But there is another tradition that became a true art: decorating eggs with folk motifs symbolizing renewal and immortality: the cross, the star, the sun, the wave, the zigzags, and stylised flowers.
Prior to decorating eggs, these are washed with warm water and vinegar, boiled slowly not to break their shell, and covered with a thin bed of bee wax. Then the eggs decorated using special tools, such as: goose feather, the "chisita" (special tool, made of a thin metal pipe, with very small diameter; a pig hair is pulled through it) is used for "writing" the motive and the "brush" (a tool that is used for covering the larger spaces - thick lines, points etc.). Vegetal colours obtained from sweet apple peal, leaves and flowers, hip rose peal, are used.