FOREIGN STUDENTS AND DOCTORAL STUDENTS WE INTRODUCED TO THE BABA MARTA HOLIDAY
02 April 2024
The foreign students from the preparatory course for language and specialized training, students from the Erasmus+ programme and doctoral students from Israel got acquainted with the Bulgarian traditions and customs related to the holiday of Baba Marta. The event was organized by the Department of Foreign Language Teaching and Postgraduate Qualification.
The attendees listened with interest to the lecture Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitar Marinov dellivered. He. presented the traditional rites of the Bulgarians in connection with the Baba Marta holiday. Attention was focused on the popular legends about the appearance of the Baba Marta holiday among the Bulgarian people; the traditions and customs related to the celebration of the holiday, among which are: tying white and red martenitsi, ritual sweeping of the house by the hostess, honoring March Saturdays, etc. A special emphasis was placed on the rituals - taking down the martenitsa, the first full moon of March and counting the days of the month of March, aimed at magical fortune-telling of the future. Particularly impressive for the foreigners was the information that in the traditional worldview of the Bulgarian people, Baba Marta is a kind of mythological personification of spring and the awakening of nature to new life. The information about the symbolism of the red and white thread from the traditional Bulgarian Martenitsa was also interesting for those present.
At the end of the lecture, some of the students shared their impressions of the participation in the master class held on February 20 by the Student Council under the title "Workshop for Martenitsi", where they learned about various ways of making martenitsi.
The foreign students expressed their satisfaction that they gained a clear understanding of this element of Bulgarian culture, which is connected with the richly nuanced and exquisite traditional rites characteristic of the Baba Marta holiday.
All participants in the event were presented with a Bulgarian martenitsa.
