Dragobete: Lovers’ day, the Romanian way
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.
Vlad Condurache, vlad@romania-insider.com
Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com