Little March Gift

Haiku © Steliana C. Voicu | Photo © Anca Elena Voicu

Mărţişor -
în căruțul copilului
o buburuză

Little March Gift -
in the newborn's stroller
a ladybug

Petit cadeau du Mars -
dans la poussette du nouveau-né
une coccinelle

sangatsu-no gifuto -
shinseiji no ubaguruma ni
tentōmushi

3月のギフト
新生児の乳母車に
天道虫

Haiga published in Daily Haiga, 11 July 2021

Mărțișor = Little March Gift - It's a romanian tradition that children and women to wear (on the hand or on the blouse in the chest) a white and red woven string, with a little talisman attached. This special string we call ""mărţişor"". The women and children wear it between the 1st March and the Palm Sunday or the first fruit-trees bloom. It is believed that wearing it brings health and good luck. The "mărţişor" should not be worn as a jewel, but as a sacred object, with love and respect. 

Then they have to hang the string from a branch in bloom, not any tree, but a fruit tree. When you hang it and tie it from the branch, you make a wish.