From The Big Field Trip – Bulgaria, October – November 2009

When Bulgarians make their martenitsas, they make them for their friends and family, never for themselves. In early spring, they make martenitsas in their homes by braiding red and white strands of wool together.  On March 1^st they are given out to friends and family or people they want to meet. The martenitsas can also be bought at stores and markets. If someone gives you a martenitsa, it is like saying, “I wish you health, good luck, happiness, and friendship.”

When you get a martenitsa, you put it on until you see a stork, a swallow, or a blooming tree. Storks, swallows and blooming trees represent spring coming.  Then you tie your martenitsa on a branch of the first blooming tree that you see.  You can also put the martenitsa under a rock, and if a worm comes to it first you get good luck. On the other hand, if a spider comes to it you get bad luck. If an ant comes to it first you’ll get good luck, but you’ll have to work for it.

From The Big Field Trip – Bulgaria, October – November 2009

The first day we arrived in Bulgaria, we saw martenitsas hanging on tree branches. Martenitsas, martenitsas, martenitsas! Some of the trees were full of them! There were dozens on every branch. Until I arrived in Veliko Turnovo I didn’t know the tradition about these red and white bracelets. I learned about them from Georgi, our guide. Georgi makes martenitsas for his friends and family every year at the end of winter. A lot of friends give him bracelets; sometimes he gets so many that his wrists are full of them.

I think martenitsas are awesome, including the spider part. When we get back to Santa Fe I am definitely going to celebrate the arrival of Grandma Marta by making bracelets from red and white strands of wool. I am going to give them out to my friends on March 1^st to wish them good luck, health, happiness, and friendship.

 
Lima, Peru from Jason Kirkman on Vimeo.

The kids also made many additions to their map, but since its kind of burried on the “about” page, I thought I’d link it to this post. See Below.

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Don’t forget to check out theBigFieldTrip photo album. Just click on one of the photos on the right side of the page to go to the Picassa site.

Thanks for checking in,

Jason