Dragobete

Dragobete is kept on 24 February and is one of Romania’s best-known traditional days for love and early spring. In folklore, it marks the time when nature starts to wake up and birds are said to choose their mates and begin nesting, which is why the day is also linked to the “betrothal of the birds.” Older village customs were strongest in southern Romania, especially in Muntenia and Oltenia, though the name is now known nationwide. Unmarried girls and boys would meet in the morning, put on their best clothes, and go to hills, woods, or meadows to look for the first flowers, especially snowdrops and violets.

A famous Dragobete custom happened on the way back to the village: the girls would run, the boys would follow, and if a girl let herself be caught, the two shared a kiss. That public kiss was taken as a sign of mutual affection and could be remembered as a match “for the year.” People avoided quarrels, tears, and staying indoors, because the day was believed to influence luck in love through the coming months. In some places, girls kept flowers gathered on Dragobete or saved clean late-winter snow, melted it, and used the water later as a beauty charm. Today, museums, schools, and folk events on 24 February often revive the old saying “Dragobetele sărută fetele.”

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.