The Martisor has been included on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list

The martisor has just been accepted in the UNESCO world heritage patrimony. The decision was taken within the Intergovernmental Committee for Saving the cultural patrimony. The conference has taken place at Jeju, South Korea.

Romania has proposed for the martisor to be protected by UNESCO, together with Bulgaria, Macedonia and Moldova. Adrian Cioroianu, the Romanian UNESCO delegate has stated that this beautiful spring tradition exists in all these countries, although they might have small differences.

In the last years, the martisor has been studied by ethnologists and they have noted that this tradition is celebrated in Romania, Bulgaria and also Albania. It is a tradition that was inherited from the peasants which consider it as a protective sign against disease and bad luck.

The martisor is also connected to the beginning of the agricultural year and to nature’s cycle and astronomical cycle. In Romania the martisor is also related to Dochia, which is a figure identified with the return of spring.