 Romanians have their own Valentine's Day - the celebration of universal love. It is known that Valentine was a Bishop of ancient Rome and he was killed in 270 A.D. by cutting his head. This martyr entered in Western culture as the saint protector of love. Even in Romania young people celebrate St. Valentine's Day on 14th of February in the last years. . . but they forget that on 24th of February we have our special celebration of love called Dragobete.Visiting Romanian villages on 24th of February you will be amazed talking with old people how they imagine this pagan God : Dragobete is a beautiful young man similar to the ancient Greek God named Eros, very strong but kind, extremely sensual but honest, protecting sincere love between animals and human beings, brave and ready to defend a broken heart. |
 His name is explained in different ways but let's take in consideration only one source of inspiration. The Dacians, who lived thousands of years ago on this territory, had a special symbol for fertility, vital force and love: the he-goat named by them "Trago". The other part of Dragobete came from a forgotten Dacian word "Pede" which means "legs". Due to the language evolution over centuries these two words became later Drago-Bete and formed a single name with a different meaning. It might be strange for you why these "legs" are connected to love. . . but don't forget that ancient civilizations (as Dacians) performed magic rituals on certain occasions. It is possible that in the last days of winter the entire Dacian community brought together in their small sanctuary for singing and dancing. They were asking their Gods to encourage love between animals which would increase their flocks or the number of their domestic birds. Also they could use "goat legs" in their rituals as a powerful ingredient for making people more loving persons; in this way would grow the number of boys in their community which would determine a greater number of soldiers for defending their land against intruders. All these are speculations. . . but it is still a possibility to be true. One last detail: the ancient Romans and Greeks had their celebrations of love and they imagined their Gods having goat-legs and goat-horns. |
 On this special day, 24th February, Romanian single young men and single girls form brotherhoods sometimes for life (boys with boys and girls with girls). This day is celebrated different in the Romanian provinces. For example in Transylvanian mountains, young men use to form Cete (in English can be translated as "bands") with special flags and distinctive marks. These bands are created at the beginning of winter and they respected by the whole community. It is a special competition between them. In many villages these bands break up at the end of February on Dragobete Day. |
 Tourists visiting Romanian on this special occasion will notice that people don't work as usual. With one exception : people make a general clean in the house because they believe that Dragobete will help to increase their richness starting with this coming spring. It is nice to see single men and single women wearing their best clothes and going in a hurry to the forest for collecting flowers. Many hours later, at their return home, they are making jokes together, they sing, dance and even kiss each other in public. In this way they show to their village that they are engaged for one year with his/her favorite person. |
Those who remain single, will remain so till the next celebration of love : next Dragobete Day!