Martisor with my own hands

Martisor in Eastern Europe is the symbol of spring, made, as a rule, by hand. Usually it consists of two parts respectively of red and white colors - these can be balls, pompons, asterisks or even human figures. Martisor in the form of two little men are more common in Bulgaria and Moldavia, where they are called martenichki, but in Romania they prefer the marttshory of round shape.

According to the legend of martisor, the Spring girl left the forest on the first day of March and saw a snowdrop pushing from a snowdrift. She began raking the snow and thorny branches to help the flower reach for the sun and grow. But the evil Winter saw this, became angry and sent a snowstorm on them. Spring, to protect the snowdrop, closed it with their own hands, but at the same time accidentally pricked with branches of thorns. A red drop of blood fell from her hand; she hit the flower, and the snowdrop revived. So the Spring defeated the Winter, and the red (the color of the blood) and the white (the color of the snow) symbolize their eternal opposition and the victory of spring over the winter. Traditionally, martisors need to be worn on clothes all the march, and when the first trees bloom - hang them on the branches of trees.

And now let's find out how to make mertsishor with our own hands.

Master-class on the manufacture of martisors

1. In order to make mertsishor with our own hands, we will need the thread for knitting two colors - red and white (instead of red, sometimes using pink).
2. We twist the threads together into a long two-color bundle and fasten them with knots at the ends so that it does not untwist. We wind white threads on a rectangle made of cardboard. Its width should be approximately equal to the length of the future doll-martisor. Such a rectangle usually becomes the size of a standard business card. We band up the top with a colored bundle, which we made in point 2, and tighten the knot.
3. The lower part is cut, and we have a fluffy product, similar to a blank for a pompon or a brush of thread. We make a similar workpiece of red color. We tie her top with a contrasting thread - this will be the head of a little man.
4. We will do the same with a white brush, bandaging its top with a thread of red color.
5. We return to the red figure. We need to leave a few threads, symbolizing the hands of the pupa, and the rest of it to draw with a white thread (roughly in the middle, like a girdle). Pay attention: the figure becomes more and more like a human! Divide the lower part of the remaining loose threads in half and form a little man's legs. Similarly, draw and handle the martisor.
6. Leaving the white workpiece tied up only half, we get a female figure in a white dress. Probably, this is Spring.
7. Martisor can be made not only in the form of human figures. It can be made in the form of two simple pompons of thread.
8. Beautiful and will look and the usual brushes - red and white. They do not need to be bandaged with strings, forming a figure, but simply leaving it fluffy.
9. Martisor is made from beads - it looks very unusual and stylish. Such martissors can be worn on clothes as brooches.
10. And for those who own the art of macrame, it will not be difficult to fabricate the martisor in this technique, using threads of iris and matching bead colors.

As you can see, the craft of mărtsişor implies the freedom of your imagination and any forms that you can think of. Martisor is a symbol of spring, and it can be anything, the main thing is to observe the color scheme.