A novelty is the sensitive point of a tradition.In
Romania this new concept is replacing our traditional holidays with holidays
for other countries.
For example nowadays we all celebrate ”The Valentine’s Day” on the14th of February, but few people remember that on the 24th of February
we have ’’The Dragobete’’ ( a specific Romanian traditional holiday).
The
Dragobete is a very old holiday,from the Dacian times. In the morning of the 24th
of February the young girls and boys, dressed in holiday clothes , go in forest
to collect ’springflowers’. At lunch time, the girls go back to the village followed
by boys who court them .If they like too the boys who followed them, they will kiss
them in front of everybody, when they get to the village and then,
they get engaged for a year, in a symbolic way .
The holiday has its origin in a legend. Dragobete
,the son of Baba Dochia ,wanted to get married and, one morning, he goes in the
forest to search for flowers which he would give to the girl he saw in his dream
the night before.When he sees the girl looking at him and moving away ,he tries
to catch her.After he catches her,they reach the village, and he proposes to her
and she answers with a kiss .
Dragobete
is a kind of beautiful demon ,another Eros or Cupidon , but is the opposite of
Zburatorul (the Flyer) who is a beautiful and evil demon who plays with the feelings
of young girls, causing them despair.
About traditions
Source: Photos: traditii.dragobete-tumblr.ro
Text: an old woman from a village near Beius
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