Valentine's Day vs. Dragobete: Most Romanians prefer the local celebration of love, survey finds

Romanians celebrate love twice in February: on international Valentine’s Day (February 14) and on Dragobete – the traditional Romanian lovers’ day (February 24). And according to a recent survey, most Romanians prefer the local celebration of love.

More than a quarter of Romanians celebrate love on February 24, for Dragobete, while over 17% choose February 14, Saint Valentine's Day, according to a survey conducted by INSCOP at the request of News.ro. Roughly 41.3% do not celebrate at all.

When asked if they usually celebrate lovers' day on February 14, for Saint Valentine, or on February 24, for Dragobete, 17.6% of respondents chose February 14, while 26.3% indicated February 24, and 14.5% said they celebrate either (depending on availability/schedule).

United Right Alliance voters, people under 30 years old, and those potentially active but currently inactive, as well as employees in the private sector, are more likely to celebrate on February 14, for Saint Valentine, compared to the rest of the population.

Those who tend to celebrate on February 24, for Dragobete, include people over 45 years old, those passively inactive, and government employees. Social Democrat voters, women, people over 60 years old, those passively inactive, and those who do not use social networks declare in a higher proportion than other population categories that they do not celebrate these days.

The opinion survey was conducted by INSCOP Research at the request of the News.ro press agency. Data was collected from January 16 to 24 through the CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) method, using a questionnaire. The sample volume, stratified simple, is 1,100 people, representative of the significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over.

According to the Romanian Cultural Institute, Dragobete was not traditionally celebrated everywhere on February 24. In parts of Romania, it was celebrated on March 1, and it represented a new beginning, a celebration of spring. Young people believed that if they exchanged jokes and were happy on