Romanian-style-love on Dragobete
In the tradition of Romanian folklore, on February 24 we celebrate “Dragobete” (The Day of Love); in Romanian folk mythology, Dragobete is considered to be the god of youth, love and good mood. As a counterpart, Greek mythology has Eros, the god of love, and Roman mythology has Cupid (son of the goddess of love Venus), the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection.
In Romanian folklore there are many beautiful stories that delighted our childhood, but the most important, beautiful and fascinating myth is the one about Baba Dochia and Traian.
It is said that Dochia, the daughter of the Dacian king Decebalus, fell in love with Traian, the Roman emperor and conqueror of Dacia, and they had a son – Dragobete.
In his turn, Dragobete married a girl, Martisor, against his mother’s wishes, creating this antagonistic relationship, the source of eternal divergences between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
It is a very beautiful legend that we suggest you look for in bookstores/libraries/internet and read it to your children.
Traditions and customs differ depending on each area of the country where Dragobete is celebrated. We will list some of them and we will remind you how beautiful Romanian folklore is with its traditions and what a pity that these customs are not perpetuated and will soon be present only in the writings of historians and a few articles:
- The young ladies and young men would put on clean clothes and set off together towards the blooming meadows in the forest to pick spring flowers, snowdrops, violets, flowers that they would place on the icons and use them for love charms;
- Young people who wanted to have a lasting bond with their friends, both boys and girls, would cut their arm in the shape of a cross, then overlap the cuts, thus becoming cross brothers/sisters;
- The birds that gather in flocks and chirp on Dragobete day, this is how they choose their mate and start building their nests;
- Girls who touch a man from a neighboring village will be affective and tender all year;
- Girls who want to be loved all year must meet a man on Dragobete;
- Men who will upset women and argue with them on Dragobete day will have an unlucky year;
- Everyone must be happy to have a year full of love;
- You are not allowed to cry on this day. There will be tears that will bring trouble, bad luck and sadness;
We left behind the most beautiful custom practiced by young unmarried girls who, on Dragobete day, gathered snow, which they then melted and used for love spells or beautification rituals. It was said that this snow is born from the smiles of fairies and that it has magical properties, which will make young girls as attractive as the forest fairies themselves.
So, having said all that, there will be nothing left to do but to celebrate Dragobete in a traditional Romanian style.
Our suggestion to spend an excellent weekend would be to accept the invitation to stay at Hotel Alpin in Poiana Brasov, to benefit from all the services of the Vitarium Spa and a swim in the semi-Olympic pool, then to enjoy a delicious meal at one of our restaurants, in a landscape of fairytales.
Then you can go on the road to the Ceahlău massif, Durău, Neamţ county, if you want to see on your own these stones that signify the 12 shells that Baba Dochia wore and then undressed, along her journey up in the mountain, remaining with none.
GALERIE FOTO
