Swallows, Storks, Martenitsi

A noticable sign of spring is the return of the swallows to the village where they build their gravity-defying nests of mud. The storks are also back and the fruit blossoms are snowing down their petals in the breeze. During the month of April, while we were in Israel, here in Bulgaria the martenitsi were taken off wrists and tied to tree branches in this beautiful custom of friendship and renewal. Here's a particularly impressive example that we came across in the centre of Veliko Turnovo.