Abstract:
Dragobête is considered to be the feast of lovers in Romanian. The origins of this holiday are found in the cycle of nature, especially in the bird world. Not accidentally the bird wasconsidered one of the oldest divinities of nature and love. The Romanians also call the Drago bête and the fiancé of the birds, saying they are now mating and nesting their nest, and the habit is also taken over by humans. The reasons for the takeover are profound, since the birds were regarded as messengers of the gods, the word "bird" in Greek would mean "the message of heaven.
"Since ancient times, Romanians have been celebrating Drago bête on 24 February. This day is also called Spring Head, a day when birds birds make nests and young people" sweet eyes". It is worth mentioning here that this holiday, depending on the ethnographic area, is celebrated at different dates: 24, 28 February, 1, 25 March. The explanation comes from the same origin, the natural world.
As this feast has different days of celebration in different areas, so it also has different names: Drago bête, The Flying, The Cruel, or The Spring Head (Sântion), the son of Dochia and the brother-in-law of the vegetation - Lăzărică. These names are based on strong arguments why they were chosen. For example, the "Flying" from the name of the game that young people practiced on the day of Drago bête‟s holding.
In the popular tradition Drago bête is a young god of the Geto-Dacian Pantheon with a fixed date of celebration in the same locality, but variable from area to area, from locality to locality. In the Romanian Lands Drago bête is considered the patron of love and good mood. This mythological character is identified with Cupid, the god of love in Roman mythology and Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology. Drago bête is also considered to be the son of Dochia, a handsome and loving man. He was the Dacian god who, as a "cosmic nose", was in heaven at the beginning of the spring wedding of all birds and animals. Gradually, over the years this tradition has spread to people. Being the god of good mood, parties were taking place on his birthday, and many of the future marriages were there.
