March 8, 2020: Happy INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's Day!

Today, I’m sending along a bunch of warm greetings wishing all my dear girlfriends a wonderful International Women’s Day, filled with lots of special moments!

Ladies, it is your day, fill it with joy and stay grateful!

● A previous post on the same theme: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's Day (each year on March 8) – 2019

Socializing: 2020 – INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’s Day

A beautiful Friday evening gathering (on March 6'20) when together with good friends we celebrated the elegance & the significance of womanhood. It is recognized all across the world the major contribution women bring to our society – mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, wives – regardless of the role they each play, may we always remember that they each bring with them meaning, love, kindness, and bear life! HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's DAY!

To all the wonderful women out there: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them! 

This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture. 

● A previous event I organized on the same theme: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’s Day – 2019

● Some of my additional greetings referring to INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’s Day – 2020, 2019   

March 1, 2020: “Mărțișor"

“Mărțișor is an old tradition celebrated all over Romania every year, on March 1^st. This name ('Mărțișor') is a diminutive of March ('martie', in Romanian language), & according to an old custom, it is believed that the person who wears the red & white string, at least that day, would enjoy a good, prosperous & healthy year ahead.
Aside of that, since old times, passing from generation to generation, the Snowdrop flowers are considered spring heralds, everybody would enjoy having nearby.

I wish you have a wonderful day together with your dear ones!

● A previous post on the same theme: “MĂRȚIȘOR” (each year on March 1st) – 2019

Love & “Mărțișor" – a Romanian spring tradition

What a beautiful evening we all had on Friday (February 28’20) when we gather to celebrate the Romanian spring tradition, called “Mărțișor”, which is meant to announce that spring is near. Since weather is getting milder and flowers began blooming, we all feel that LOVE is in the air, and because of that we just couldn’t miss the opportunity to discuss several facets of it. 

While at this page, I’m glad to announce that my circle is growing, and new friends are joining. I was truly happy to welcome them all that evening with a fragment of classical music, featuring spring and gift each of the invited ladies with “mărțișoare“ I personally crafted few days before. I accompanied each “mărțișor” with the classical red & white silk thread, which I ordered ahead of time from Romania. The beautiful smiles my guests had on their faces when they each received my “mărțișoare“ as well as the authentic joy expressed, filled my heart with such a profound delight!  

On the other hand, even though I shared with you few times before the legend of “Mărțișor“, at this moment I only refresh its quintessence, as published by several ethnographic journals: according to archaeological research, the “Mărțișor” traces its history more than 8,000 years ago, and some ethnologists believe that the “Mărțișor” celebration is in fact an old Dacian tradition. 
On March 1^st, in Dacia, the Dacians (the ancestors of Romanians nowadays) would celebrate the New Year, as well as the 1^st day of spring, dedicating ample festivals honoring the rebirth of vegetation, as the entire nature would come back to life after the long winter hibernation. 
Since 2017, “Mărțișor“ was added to UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
After all “mărțișoare“ were distributed we settled in and our group discussions began, unfolding beautifully. 
Lots of poems were recited, personal memories were shared, legends were reiterated, featuring “Mărțișor“, LOVE and the coming springtime. 

Before I will give you more details about our evening together, I would like to briefly refresh that LOVE, over centuries, has been described by many as being one of the best feelings on earth – one that lots of people can’t live without, and it has been extensively praised by many poets, painters, writers, scientists, philosophers, and regular people. Nowadays, LOVE is one of the most talked about topics, on a wide range covering media people, academics, activists, spiritual figures, politics, and people from our everyday lives.

Specifically talking about my circle, this Friday, our conversations on LOVE were truly interesting, with lots of stories sharing personal experiences, scientific reports, psychological perspectives, poems (personal creations & from universal literature) and fragments / quotes (by Dante Aligheri, Bible, Eckhart Tolle, Hesiod, Lao Tzu, Mother Theresa, Smaranda Gheorghiu, I.Teodoreanu, Baudelaire, Charles Dickens, Erasmus from Rotterdam, Teodor Musatescu, Cohen & Albert Einstein).

Aside of that, since I had a number of couples as guests of the evening (being together for a respectable number of years – some by 60, 56, 32, 30, 4 years) they each shared what is the secret (in their opinion/s) of a happy, long and stable marriage. Practical advice, timeless insights...awesome, priceless wisdom!
On this briefing I will respect the privacy of the personal aspects discussed, but below I will give you only few general concepts:
- Love is a true force of life
- Love feels like security and stability
- Love is strictly linked with happiness
- Love is harmonizing relationships 
- True love will stay forever in your heart
- The love of a mother is the only form of love that exists in purest, truest and unconditional form 
- There are many types of love and here are few: Eros (romantic love), Agape (unconditional love), Storge (empathy), Philia (affectionate love), Pragma (long-lasting love), etc., but the highest of all is AGAPE (ancient Greek ἀγάπη…which is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, "the highest form of love, charity")
- The color of love is actually green, not red. Red is the color of passion between 2 people. Green is the color of healing, the color of nature, the color of balance and good health. We associate green with love on a global level. Green reveals our desire to foster understanding and acceptance between people.
- Love has been compared with the sun that gives the warmth your heart needs. Sun it sometimes covered by clouds, but you know is there, so does love - you can’t see it all the time, but you feel it.

Next, the love within the animal reign was discussed as well, and several examples of inspiration were given: the swans, doves, wolfs, penguins, dogs, eagles.
Further, one of our guests that evening nicely explain how beautiful even flowers “speak” about love!

Additionally, our group conversations referred to the coming springtime as well, and our dear friend Dorina read for us a beautiful childhood poem, we all knew since young age, and after she finished reciting it, the entire group began humming it and then it flew into really singing it….it was such a splendid delight for us all. Materials presented by our dear friend Dorina are published (with Dorina's permission) in comments section.
Then our friend Teo recited several poems (personal compositions), which are published (with Teodor's permission) in comments section. 

Spring is the season of joy, and heart knows it, that’s way at this time of the year people are happier than usual! It is as simple as that: when spring is in the air, heart knows it! Spring is the season of new beginnings, when many fresh flowers began blooming, animals awaken and the entire Earth seems to come to life again, all emphasizing the beautiful theme of rebirth and renewal.
Among other attributes, spring is truly beautiful because flowers are in bloom displaying a symphony of radiant colors and suave, rejuvenating fragrances. 
Also, scientifically speaking, there are extensive studies showing that looking at flowers could make you happy.
For instance, the snowdrop is the first flower of the year, and when it blossoms is a sign that spring is near, confirming that slowly the winter is fading, transforming into lovely springtime. We all grew up with the believe that snowdrops (“Galanthus nivalis”) are spring heralds, symbolizing hope and joy!

All my guests that evening felt the same way in their hearts, as many brought spring flowers for our reunion as well as “Snowdrops”, which in Romania are considered “spring messengers”. Even my husband, at home, brought me such a nice bouquet of fresh flowers, which filled my heart with profound delight!

On the other hand, since the International Women’s Day is coming soon (being celebrated around the world on March 8^th), we briefly mentioned several famous Romanian women, and here are a few:
- Dr. Ana Aslan (please read her biography in comments section)
- Poet & novelist, Smaranda Gheorghiu (please read her biography in comments section)
- Olympic gymnast, Nadia Comaneci (please read her biography in comments section)

Without any doubt, the good cheer was in our midst, and when all presentations concluded, our dear friend, Teo Trandafir sang us all an original spring song he personally composed. Truly beautiful!

We concluded the evening together with a very well garnished selection of light refreshments, which again allowed for prolonged enticing conversations and great fellowship – good food, nice people, interesting talks, positive environment…what else to ask for!?
Yet again, my most sincere appreciation to my precious, loyal friends who honored my invitation, and until next time, my best greetings to each!
Alice

A heart that loves is always young! 

 This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture. 

● A previous event I organized on the same concepts: Love, Spring &“Mărțișor”– 2019

● Some of my additional greetings referring to VALENTINE's Day – 2020, 2019 | "Mărțișor" – 2019 | 
"DRAGOBETE" – 2020

NOTE: Dear readers, please be advised that on this website each of the previous postings, pertaining to the recurrent annual themes, portray a different perspective of the subject/s presented (same theme/s, but a different outlook without duplication due to the cultural richness of the specific topic/s discussed).