(story to be published in tomorrow’s issue, March 9)
March 9 is a day that used to be called Macinici or Mucenici (martyrs), long time ago in the popular Calendar. It represented the beginning of the Agrarian Year that was celebrated the day of the spring equinox, at the confine between summer and winter. It was set as a shield between the cold days of the “Dochia” and the hot ones of the “Mosi.” During the Macinci Day, two celebrations were combined: the last day of the rule of “Dochia,” when according to tradition the Winter Empress dies and turns to stone, and the first day of the rule of the “Mosi,” that were sacrificed for their just faith, thus becoming martyrs. The customs for March 9 form a scenario specific to the New Year: the ritual meals (Sfinti,Sfintisori, Bradosi), the ritual drunkenness (one was bound by tradition to drink 40 or 44 glasses of wine), the opening of the graves and of the Gates of Heavens to allow the souls of the mortal among the living. They also used to light fires in courtyards and on the fields and to sprinkle people and cattle with holy water to purify them. The ashes from the ritual fires were used to work magic to protect the houses. The ground was beaten with big wooden hammers to drive away the cold and draw out the warmth of the spring. The dead were given places at the tables around the ritual fires. Divination was worked with the help of a special Macinci cake. That was also the time when the first vines were cut to insure a good crop. Today, the celebration of the Macinci Day, set on March 9, starts a day earlier with the Macinci fires and ends on March 10 with the ritual drunkenness. During this celebration the Christian symbols (the figures of the 40 Saint Martyrs) are combined with a series of pagan myths that are related to the field labors. They all mark the beginning of the spring and the New Agrarian Year.