Not only does the Western world celebrate love in February, but Romanians do as well. Alongside Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated in Western fashion and is gaining popularity from year to year, Romanians celebrate Dragobete (Old Romanian for love-drunk) on February 24th.

The celebration of the god of youth, joy and love is rumored to have origins dating back to the Romans and Dacians period.  In ancient Rome, at the beginning of spring, on each 15th of February, the Lupercalia festival was being organized. This was a celebration of fertility, occasion on which the tradition requested the young unmarried girls to write love notes. Each girl would be wooed by the one who had extracted her note from the great hazard`s urn. The Lupercalia festival was dedicated mainly to gods Juno and Pan and to the god of fertility, Faunus Lupercalus. The traditions regarding the fertility were closely related to customs considered as actual orgies by some. In order to stop these orgies occurring on this pagan holiday, Pope Gelasius I proclaimed the holiday of Saint Valentine, on 14th of February.

By following the threads of popular legends it is said that Dragobete is the son of “Baba Dochia” - folklore character said to be the daughter of the Dacian king, Decebal; Roman emperor Traian falls in love with her, but she refuses him and retreats together with her tribe on the sacred mountain of Ceahlău; realizing that she will not escape, she prays for the help of the Dacian god Zamolxes, which transforms her and her people into stone. Dragobete, her son is said to be a handsome, loving young man that seduced all women who crossed his path, therefore becoming the supreme embodiment of love.

This celebration also has an interesting religious meaning, it encompasses both a beginning and an end, the beginning of a new season, spring and the renewal of nature but also an ending to worldly feasts as it marks the beginning of Easter Lent, the longest and most rigorous lent of the year.

In many Romanian villages this feast is celebrated with a series of traditional rituals, all the young people start the day by dressing up and walking through the forest collecting bouquets of the first flowers of spring, accompanied by songs and dances. At noon time, all the girls start running back towards the village and the boys try to catch them. Legend says that if the boy was dear to the girl she would let him catch and kiss her, this being a symbolic equivalent of a betrothal. This ended with a big feast in the evening where they celebrated their love together with their families. It is also considered that all who took part in the ritual and respected tradition would be blessed in the upcoming year, and have wealth and good health.

Another tradition says that young unmarried women would collect the water from the snow not yet melted or from fennel flowers, the water was preserved as an elixir as it was “born from the smile of fairies” and rumored to have magical properties, would make the skin fairer and the lady more loved.

No matter the traditions, this day is considered by all as a good omen for the people and their household, because it was believed Dragobete will help all the hard working people have a more fruitful year (this is why tidying the house is the only work permitted on this day). Also, it is forbidden for men to upset any woman on this day as it will bring a year of misfortune, and all young people should be joyous all day long so that they are lucky in love for the entire year to come.