Joy for Joi, Mărțișor edition

On this Joi, we are observing a special day here in Moldova.  It is called Mărțișor, which literally means "little March."  From what I understand, this day signifies the ending of winter and beginning of spring  (which seems a little optimistic this year since there is snow on the ground, the high temp is only 34 degrees today, and it's supposed to snow again tomorrow.  But I guess Spring can be a mindset anyway!).

To celebrate this day, Moldovans are wearing little red-and-white ribbons, and most will continue to wear them each day for the rest of the month.  For the last week or so, everywhere in the city there are people selling these little homemade ribbons, the simple ones for as little as 1 Lei (which is less than 10 cents.)  The girls in our family were lucky enough to get pretty little jewelry pieces connected to them!

There are a few different legends that explain the symbolism with the red and white colors intertwined, and the heart of each seems to be the idea that the power of the harsh winter has now been broken through and the cleanness of Spring is upon us. 

This morning Pete and I talked with the kids about how this a shadow of the Truth for us as Christians as well -- that the red blood of Christ broke the hold on us and we can now be clean before God.  It's pretty cool that we get to wear this physical representation of that throughout much of Lent.

So that is a big celebration of Joy for this Joi!

Another thing that I am thankful for in my list (for the Joy Dare) is the fact that for the last month, while we've been homebound largely due to the weather, there has been some sort of "holiday" each week to keep us busy!  Starting at the beginning of February, we had:

• 100th day of school
• Milo's 3rd birthday
• Valentine's Day
• Shrove Tuesday/Lent
• Leap Day
• and now Mărțișor!

And next week is another spectacular one:  Women's Day!  (Moldova is a wonderful place when it comes to having celebratory days.) I can't wait to celebrate my first Women's Day. Hopefully my husband and kids will read this and be well prepared....