eTwinning project

1. Dragobete: Lovers’day, in Romania
Dragobete, the traditional lovers’ day in Romania, is
celebrated on February 24, ten days after the Western European
and American counterpart Valentine’s Day. The Dragobete
traditional story goes that, clothed with holiday suits, young men
and women meet in front of the church and go searching the
woods and meadows for spring flowers. They sit around fire on
the hills of the village and talk. At noon, the girls run to the
village, each followed by one boy who had fallen for them. If
the boy is fast and reaches the girl of his choice and if she likes
him, she kisses him in front of everyone. This tradition
triggered the expression “Dragobete kisses the girls!”
(Dragobetele sărută fetele). The kiss show the two lovers’
engagement, Dragobete being an opportunity to show the love in front of the community.
There are a number of Dragobete customs in rural areas, many of which are not kept by
modern Romanians anymore. On this day, no animals are sacrificed because it would ruin
the point of mating. In the old days, single women used to gather the last remnants of
snow, called “the fairies’ snow”, and the water resulted from the melted snow was used
throughout the year for various beauty treatments and love spells.
The tradition goes that men should not hurt women, nor argue with them, otherwise they
will not do well the whole year. Youngsters believe that on this day they should be
joyous and respect the holiday, so that they can be in love the whole year.
Modern Romanians embraced Valentine’s Day in the early ‘90s. More recently, a new
movement has emerged in Romania – that of celebrating the traditional holiday instead of
what is seen as the commercial, Western European -imported celebration. Bar and clubs
organize Dragobete-themed nights, media outlets put up themed campaigns to remind
Romanians of their traditional holiday.