keeping traditions: a trifecta

March 1, 2011 was a trifecta as David wrote on Facebook.

1) It was M?r?i?or, the “spring’s almost here” holiday. (Here’s my post about it from last year.) Claudia told us that it’s also Ziua Barbatilor (Men’s Day).  David got coffee and ties and tons of martisoare. I got a few martisoare myself, but this year, my beneficiaries and I made a TON of martisoare.  They were sent all over Romania to Peace Corps colleagues and some ended up at the United Nations House in Bucharest for the Gender and Development’s 16 Days against Gender Violence Art Exposition.

2) March 1 marked 50 years of  Peace Corps 50th Birthday/Anniversary.  I hope to write a bit more about this soon.  The image below and a neat slideshow of Peace Corps documents can be found at the JFK library website.

3) March 1 is also St. David’s Day — David’s ziua onomastica (name day).  It’s not a day celebrated here on the Orthodox calendar, but it’s all the rage in Wales. Of course we didn’t know until the end of the day, but we celebrated with some placinta cu branza (sweet cheese-filled cake) courtesy of the Botez family.