Happy 1-st of March ("Grandma March" holiday)!

In the first day of March, according to an old Bulgarian tradition, people put on "martenitza" for good health throughout the year. This day had always been festive and full of positivity for children.
 
This year the children from both Christian schools have worked very hard and surprised us with beautiful martenitzas  that they have specially made with a lot of love and creativity.
 
The holiday was a great opportunity for the children from both schools to get together and exchange kind words for the holiday as well as pretty martenitzas. And so, on the 1-st of March we gathered in the host house of the school in Debrashtitza village, we put on the martenitzas and we headed toward St. Dimitar church in order to light candles and say a prayer. This day  coincided with another big Christian holiday – "Sirny zagovezny" (meaning "a day to ask for forgiveness") and each one of us asked for forgiveness and gave it to the ones who asked us.
 
The good spring weather with which Grandma March rewarded us, was a great time for us to go for a walk in the field, without giving it a second thought. This is the field where we all planted trees last November. The children hung martenizas each on his/her tree and we said, all together, the prayer which was written specially for the children by the nuns in Resilovsky monastery.  
 
The best part of the walk was when we arrived at the playground and the games begun.
 
A bit tired, yet filled with positive emotions and warmed by the spring sunrays, we went back for a delicious lunch, prepared by our colleagues.

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