“DRAGOBETE”

The celebration of youth and love in Romania

When do we celebrate Dragobete?

In the old days, around the 1st of March, mostly on February 24, people celebrated Dragobetele ( Valentine's Day, Spring). Perhaps the month of February was considered the spring, and on the 24th was the beginning of the agricultural year. It is when the nature wakes up, the birds do their nests, and people, especially young people, enter in resonance with it .

Who is Dragobete?Mythological deity similar to Eros or Cupid, Dragobete is considered to be Dochia’s son, a very handsome man. He was a Dacian god who, as a "cosmic nose" officiated in the sky, in early spring, the weddings of all animals . Over the years this tradition has spread to humans . On Dragobete Day, girls and boys meet to keep their love all year, as birds do when spring comes.The birds’ custom takeover was deeply motivated, since birds were seen as messengers of the gods, the Greek word " bird " meaning even "message of heaven."Dragobete is also the god of good mood and on his Day many parties are held, where the youth can find their partners, why not for their whole life.

Traditions on Dragobete

In older times, in villages, it could be heard everywhere the saying : “It’s Dragobete kiss the girls."

Traditions on DragobeteRomanian folk belief says that those who attended the Dragobete, were safe from diseases all year. So in the morning, got dressed up with the best clothes, the young people met in the village center or in front of the church. If the weather was favourable, they started singing in the woods or meadows, and in groups, they were looking for snowdrops and other miraculous plants (used for love spells). If the weather was bad, they gathered at home and some of them played games and told stories.

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Young boys and girls talked in forest around burning fires. The girls would gather violets and incense, they kept them near icons are then used in various charms of love.

In some places, it was a tradition that older girls to gather water from unmelted snow or from the flowers of strawberry. This water was kept with great care because it had magical properties (it was said that this was "born of fairy smile") and may make girls beautiful and loving. If there was no snow, girls gathered rainwater (for washing hair), when Dragobete was held in March.

Traditions on Dragobete

At lunch, the girls began to run down to the village in southern Romania. This quest is called "racer ". Every boy followed the girl he liked. If the lad was fast enough and the girl liked him, too, then they kissed openly. The kiss was a playful engagement of the two, at least for a year. Often such engagements became true.

Traditions on Dragobete

The community was very interested in what was happening, because now they could find out how many weddings would there be. In the afternoon there was the party, where everyone, whether was a member of a couple or not ,danced, sang, felt good, because it was said that young people who didn’t have a good time on Dragobete would not find their pair that year.

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Women used to touch a man from another village on Dragobete Day to be loving and caring all year and also had to give good food to the backyard poultry, birds of heaven. No creature was sacrificed on Dragobete. Often, the boys also spent Dragobete in the neighboring villages, to have a good summer .

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It was believed that Dragobete would help householders to have a better year than the previous one. People did not work on days of religious holidays, only cleaned houses. The daring girls who worked, were "punished" by Dragobete. Even though he punished women, he was considered the protector and good luck of lovers. Young people, in general , considered Dragobete a genuine Romanian Cupid .