On the day of March 9th Romanians all over the country and world celebrate the Saints Mucenici, 40 martyr soldiers who died for their faiths many moons ago. It amazes me how some traditions are passed on from generation to generation and last hundreds of years. The tradition is to greet the day of March 9th with something sweet and delicious, called mucenici. In the part of the country I grew up mucenici are flour based and made by hand in the shape of the number 8. After the mucenici are cooked, sugar, crushed walnuts, ground cinnamon and orange or lemon grinds are added. The sweet mixture is then spiced with rum extract and becomes a deliciously scented syrup which the mucenici soak up. Yum!
And because march 9th is also the vernal equinox after the Julian calendar, this day marks the start of spring, life, new hopes and new beginnings.
mucenici are supposed to look like the ones in the picture above, but these bowties are my own version!
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