Baba Marta

Bulgarians celebrate a holdiay on March 1st called Baba Marta (grandmother March). On this day everyone gives their friends and family little pins or bracelets made out of red and white string called martenitsi. You wear all the martinitsi you recieve (either pinned on your shirt by he collar or on your wrist) until you see your first stork or your first flowering fruit tree. By giving someone a martinitsa you are wishing them health and happiness and also welcoming the Spring. The legend is that Baba Marta can sometimes be an angry woman and the red and white colors please her so she brings spring sooner. Here's a webpage if you would like to read more:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martenitsa


Today we had a workshop to make martenitsi. A little baba came and told us the story of Baba Marta and showed us how to fashion the martenitsi. There have been street vendors selling bunches of these all over town for the past week.


Me attempting to make a martenitsa bracelet.

My Bulgarian friends Yavor and Maya. They were pros.

Bracelet martenitsi

Martenitsi you pin on your shirt (or backpack)

Independence Day

On Sunday Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and the Kosovars threw a party in the dorms. I would say there is a population of about 15-25 Kosovars here and it was really exciting to be able to celebrate with them. They watched the celebrations in Pristina on Euronews for awhile and then watched the speech by the Serbian Prime Minister (who said that the US had humiliated the UN). Then they cranked up the music, started dancing, and brought in a ton of wine and beer and snacks. All the Albanias and Kosovars were so happy. They were hugging and congratulating each other. My friend Sara, who is from Kosovo, was close to tears and wanted more than anything to be at home. They hung up a couple of Kosovo flags and one guy even asked me if I had an American flag to hang next to it. We had a good time congratulating them and celebrating with them. I never would have had the opportunity to meet anyone from Kosovo unless I had come here, let alone celebrate their Independence Day.
They will be celebrating the rest of the week as countries recognize Kosovo and then on Sunday they will throw another huge party.

Taste Fest!

Last week at the University was International week. They had a couple activities throughout the week, such as traditional dance night where I watched some Belarussians perform a really cool dance. The Taste Fest was the culmination of the week on Saturday night. Groups from different countries prepare some traditional fare and then students and professors come and partake of the deliciousness. There were about 8-10 different countries represented and about 150 people in attendance.
According to the dean of students (who is an American and made chili and corn bread...mmmm) this was the best showing the US has ever had (in past years the Americans hadn't really cooked)! Nathan and Rachelann made breakfast burritos, Kim and I made apple pie, and Morgan made peaunut and banana sandwiches. It was really hard to figure out what traditional American food is but we did our best. The pie went over amazingly well! People were coming back for seconds and thirds. The table that won, however, was either the Bulgarians or the Macedonians (and I've decided it's because they can easily get all the ingredients for their dishes). I got to try some Bulgarian meat on a stick, a bean dish and biscuit/cookie things from Macedonia, and some Bulgarian Rakia, which is their liquor made from plums. It was some strong stuff! After the food was gone they played traditional Bulgarian and Macedonian music and we did their national dance - the Horo. Here are some pictures.


Oscar, Morgan (in the yellow - she made the sandwiches) and Kim (in the green - she helped me make pie :) at the American table.

Nathan and Rachelann made breakfast burritos.

As American as apple pie and pb and banana sandwiches. (not pictured - chili, brownies, and breakfast burritos)

The Bulgarian table. Their food looked gourmet.


Macedonia!


The Russians.

The Mongolian table.

You can kind of see Morgan and I dancing the Horo.

Video of the Horo. This is actual a Macedonian song (but it's pretty much the same in Bulgaria)