DRAGOBETE: LOVERS DAY, THE ROMANIAN

WAY
Dragobete,
celebrated
European
Day. The

the
on

traditional lovers day in Romania, is

February 24, ten days after the Western
and American counterpart Valentines
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
Drago
bete
kisses
the
girls!
(Dragobetele saruta fetele). The
kiss
shows
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 Valentines 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.
BOCA ANDRA-GEORGIANA, A.M.G. II