On this day, Albanians celebrate with several traditions, including eating ballokume, a traditional cornmeal cookie, and wearing verore bracelets, which are red and white woven bracelets worn for good luck and to symbolically welcome the new season.
Albanians also place great importance on luck and fortune. My grandmother named my father "Fatmire," which means “good luck,” reflecting this cultural belief. One way to avoid bad luck is to ward of the Syri i Keq (the evil eye). Excessive complimenting or intense jealousy from another person can cause you to get the evil eye. Many Albanians believe in the evil eye and have developed various traditions and protective methods to ward it off. For Albanians and many neighboring cultures, almost any misfortune, whether it be illness, bad luck or accidents, is attributed to the evil eye.
The verore bracelet, traditionally, is put on March 14th and removed on March 25. Some families remove it instead when they see the first swallow (a bird) of spring, a sign that warmer days have truly arrived. After taking it off, the bracelet is placed on a tree branch and a wish is made, with the belief that the birds will carry the wish away and bring good luck for the coming year.
One of the most unique traditions we have in Albania is our weddings, which can last over seven days! I attended two days of a wedding, and it was such a new and wonderful experience. One traditional ritual is the burning of the groom’s bachelor handkerchief, called shamia e beqarit, which marks the end of his single life.
