Bulgarian Best Wishes from Granny Marta

One of the great joys of my work is to collaborate with people who are passionate about their small niche in our vast and varied program. We work with lots of Europeans who are stars in our organization because of the cultural color they bring (more, even, than for the revenue they help generate). Last month, we hosted 80 of our guides at our annual guide summit here in Edmonds. The big news is how well our tiny Bulgaria tour program is doing in its first year: five sold-out tours, filled with happy customers all thrilled with their guide, Lyuba Boyanin. (I met Lyuba in 1999, when the local tourist board assigned her to help our TV crew while filming there. Even then, I had a sense that, someday, we’d be working together to create a Bulgaria tour.) Here’s a charming letter from our Bulgarian friend, giving a glimpse into the sweet and Slavic mind of this corner of Europe:

Dear Rick,

Chestita Baba Marta! (Happy Granny Marta!)

These are the words you will hear in Bulgaria if you come here during the first days of March. We have a very ancient tradition to twist red and white treats as amulets for long life and good health. We call them “martenitsa.” The whole country is in red and white: red on the balconies, red and white on streets, red and white on our coats, sweaters, hands, necks. Everyone has martenitsa decorations. (To our surprise, China has gotten into the martenitsa business, making tons of twisted red and white treats and decorations!) I wish you could be here to give you a martenitsa with my best wishes in person. Maybe if you walk to the Rick Steves Tour Ops office, you will see the martenitsa which they still have on the windows, with a wish for a successful and prosperous year.

We wear martenitsas waiting for the first migrating birds to come back, usually storks. Then we hang our martenitsas on fruit blossom trees with our wishes for prosperity, for a good and healthy life, for success. Soon after that is Easter…the resurrection of nature was the most valuable event for people here. It brings new hope for new life and a good crop season. For Bulgarians, every Orthodox Christian event has a deeper meaning in the pagan past, with roots that are very strong here. Maybe this is another mysterious part of Bulgaria, which has not been discovered yet.

Thus, we believe that the first days of March begin the new year’s circle. Pagan Bulgarians celebrated New Year’s in March, together with the newly resurrected nature. But March has unpredictable weather. One day it’s snowing, one day it’s warm like summer! This is the only month with a female name, maybe because we women have such delicate character: when Marta smiles ‘ sunshine; when she is not happy ‘ clouds and rain cover the earth. So far, the first days of March this year are cold, windy, and snowing.

We hope soon Granny Marta will be happy and we all will enjoy the warmth of the sun again. With that hope, I believe this year will be good for our Bulgarian Rick Steves tours again.

Meanwhile, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for your hospitality in Edmonds in January yet. Thank you! I found so many old and new friends during the meeting. This year I was not alone at the reunion, as my Bulgarian tour members from 2010 were well represented. Of them, our September tour group took first place in “best attendance.” They were the winners of all the Rick Steves tours. I hope one of our groups will take the best position for scrapbook contest 2010, too.

During my visit to Edmonds, I was thinking a lot about Bulgarian tours. We cannot be competitive with such a famous destinations as Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, England, Ireland, and Greece, although we have great history, wonderful and unique archaeological discoveries, beautiful nature, extremely friendly people, amazing cuisine, and delicious tasty wines. We have evidence of the oldest prehistoric European cultures. Here in 311 A.D., Constantine the Great wrote his famous Edict for the Tolerance, which officially recognized Christianity, and we are the only European state whose name hasn’t changed since 681 A.D.

Unfortunately, politically and historically we have been under the shade of very famous neighbors such as Rome, Greece, Byzantium, and the Ottoman Empire, and I know there is a lot we have to do to get out of that! Thank you, Rick for the courage to begin our Bulgarian partnership ‘ adventuring with your tours into a place not famous for its tourism business. I know that when people have never heard about a country (like mine), it will be difficult to attract them to come visit. Thank you for the incredible tour created by all of Rick Steves’ office to make Bulgaria such an extraordinary itinerary, including meetings with Bulgarian people. The tour makes this country ‘ so many times not properly understood ‘ better understood, and makes travel a political act for everyone: we Bulgarians as well as our American visitors.

I am an optimist. I am sure Bulgaria will take her position as a country which “must” be seen in Europe. Just step by step, or drop by drop, the river will run from stone to stone, making people happy to see it and to taste it.

One day, I hope to be your first guide of the second itinerary to Bulgaria…when we will learn how to make our personal martenitsas.

Now I have my own red and white twisted treats for you. Be happy as the wonderful spring!

Think white (plus red) but not black!

Lyuba