Making Manga

Mărţişor is called the celebration of the beginning of Spring in my country (Romania). I really like the holiday, because it has a nice tradition: men/boys give on 1st of March a little gift to girls- like a small brooch or talisman (most of them have funny motifs); at the beginning men received one too, but in time the custom remain only for women.  This little gift is called “martzishor” and has a little string attached on it (every mărţişor has the string). This string is practically the symbol  of this holiday and the artisans and manufacturers put one of these on each piece, or if the mărţişor isn’t designed with it, you get one separately; it is made from two separately strings – one red and one white – spinning one around another. White is winter, and red is spring. This can also represent life and death.  You can wear this string instead of a complete mărţişor. The mărţişor is worn until the end of March.

You can tie it around the wrist. The girls think that if the boy you like ties it and it doesn’t break until the end of March, then he loves you back (only a superstition).

For an image of a small mărţişor click  here and below there is an image with some Mărţişoare (pl. of Mărţişor).

However, the tradition says that the martzishor should stay on our left side of the chest, because there you find the soul, and there you want to feel the warmth of spring.

Some more symbols of spring which are often symbols of Mărţişor: clovers, chimney sweeper, horseshoe, arrow, anchor and hart.

I’ll make a “sausage – turtle” illustration(episode 2) with martzishor theme. I’ll try  to finish it until March 1st. The program i’ll use to make it – as usual – Adobe Illustrator.

I’ll add also a new post with the legend of Mărţişor, Dragobete and Baba Dochia -which are related one another.

Hariana