But before going into the first day of spring and other weather traditions, I have invited Murray the Groundhog for a few words

Click here to add text

Hello! This is Murray, the 14 Street Groundhog. I have been called to help East Village Woody from now on. Not with the shadow sighting, he is pretty good at that. But with hyperbolic tendencies in reading the signs. This year he said winter was over! Six snow storms later, no wonder he wouldn’t get out of his hole. But I am here to say: we groundhogs are not called upon to announce the coming of the spring. Our special skill is merely to say, at the appointed time whether the spring will be late (6 weeks) or not (less than 6 weeks). And, I am saying today, the next two weeks might still prove Woody right.

Now, back to March First or Martisor. Last year I collected all the trivia I found on the occasion – the First Day of Spring and Dochia’s 9 days

So the advice is: enjoy the apparent spring but don’t throw away your 9 winter coats or you’ll end up like those rocks in the picture. (Murray says: not this year. Me: I am buying a winter coat today)

This time I found  more Martisor lore from which I picked some new “twists”

It is said that the string from the “martisor”, a rope of 365 or 366 days, was sown by old woman Dochia as she went up the mountain with her sheep. Like the fortune-teller that sew the string of life for each new baby, old woman Dochia sows the string of the year.

and

It is believed that those who wear “martisor” will not be burned by the Sun during the summer and that they will be healthy, lucky and beautiful like flowers.

There is a big advantage in not having clear origins for a legend. New explanations spring every day. Here’s a new one

The symbol of the Martisor lies in the red and white thread. While red symbolizes in the Romanian culture peace, blood and sun, it is connected to the idea of life and giving life, therefore the feminine concept. White, on the other hand, is usually connected to clarity, equilibrium and wisdom, attributes associated to the masculine concept. Therefore, the union of these two colors symbolizes the essential togetherness of masculine and feminine that preserves the continuous circle of life.

I am giggling as I am pasting this as my mind goes to my latest cartoon of the day where the clarity, equilibrium and wisdom of the masculine are  not so clearly on display ;-). But hey, this is about the guys we do love!

Update

Here’s my fuzzy girl sporing her martisor today