Women in March

Women and the month of March.  You may wonder what's the connection.  Well 8th of March is International Women's Day and it's a widely celebrated day on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.  In Moldova this day actually doubles as Mother's Day as well.  So Opt Martie (8th of March) is all about honoring our women folk.  There was a special program given at our local school here in Piatra to honor the day.  You see some young students welcoming us to the school for the event.  If you can make it out in the second picture, the theme on the wall says "Sarut Femeie mina ta!"  which means Kiss the Hand of the Women. This saying actually has cultural roots in the custom of men actually kissing the hand of women they met for the first time.  Our masters of ceremony are dressed in the red and white colors of "martisor" or the beginning of Spring.  Notice that quite a few of our young ladies go all out to look their best for the day.  Our program included an adult female ensemble from a neighboring village.  They were accompanied by an accordion.  A junior dance ensemble of our own school children also performed.  I uploaded a little of the action for you to enjoy.

Moving along, a week later, we had Baba Dochia Day.  Baba means old woman.  Now there are many legends connected with Baba Dochia regarding the start of Spring.  We had a special program at our community center to share the stories with the children.  They helped tell the story by reciting some poems about the famous Baba.  Most notably the baba takes off her winter coat and gives it a good shake.  Like the winds of Spring, this causes a good bit of dust to fly in the air.  But the program was a lot of fun, and to celebrate we even had popcorn!   The Baba did such a good job of shaking off the last of winter that we could all go outside and enjoy the sunshine.  I hope you too will be able to go out and enjoy the fresh winds of Spring soon.