Local Custom- Community Introduction
Local Custom- Project Description
Local Custom- Project Narrative
Local Custom- Spring Custom Index
Local Custom- Summer Custom Index
Local Custom- Autumn Custom Index
Local Custom- Winter Custom Index
Local Custom- Other Custom Index
Local Custom- Music of Custom Index
To Food and Drink Page
To Arts and Crafts Page
Local Custom- Project Team, Students of Duiliu Zamfirescu School, Focsani, Romania
To Main Page of the Project
Little March Amulet
 
Every year Romanian people knit two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love… 

Red means love for everything that is beautiful and white symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring.

That is the first celebration of spring in Romania.

The Legend of March Amulet

Once upon a time, the Sun embodying a handsome young man, got down from the sky to dance a “hora” in a village. A dragon lay in wait for him and kidnapped him from among the people and threw him into a jail. The world got sad. The birds wouldn’t flow and the children wouldn’t laugh. No one dared to challenge the bad dragon. But one day a brave young man decided to go and save the Sun.
Lots of people saw him off and shared their strength with him. So they helped him defeat the dragon and save the Sun. His journey lasted for three seasons: summer, autumn and winter. He found the dragon’s castle and they started to fight. They fought for days and finally the dragon was killed.

Powerless and wounded, the young man set the Sun free. The Sun rose in the sky cheering up all the people and filling them with joy. The nature revived, the people got happy, but the young man couldn’t live to see spring coming. The warm blood from his wounds dropped on the snow. While the snow was melting white flowers, called snowdrops, messengers of the spring, were appearing out of the snow. Even his last drop of blood dripped out in the immaculate snow. And he died.

Since then the young people have been knitting two little tassels: a white one and a red one. At the beginning of March, they offer this amulet to the girls they love… Red means love for everything that is beautiful. It reminds us of the colour of the brave young man’s blood. White symbolizes the pureness and health of the snowdrops, the first flowers that appear in spring.
 
Maria Dumitru