In people's lives, love could not be unnoticed and without traditions regarded to it. Love means creation, a feeling that exists from the beginning of mankind. God created us as a proof of his love and He planted deep in our hearts this wonderful feeling.

Perhaps the most known feast of love is Valentine’s Day celebrated on 14^th February.

According to Helene Henderson’s book "Holiday Symbols and Customs”, the celebration of Saint Valentine replaced in 469 the original Roman pagan festival, Lupercalia which was celebrated between 13^th and 15^th February. This change occurred at the initiative of Pope Gelasius, who replaced the pagan celebration with the Christian one, and thus people began to celebrate Valentine's Day on 14^th February.

Although Lupercalia, in the beginning was a ritual of fertility, over time it took them form a feast of love. Lupercalia was spread through the Roman invasions in Europe (Britain, France, etc.).

One of the legends of Saint Valentine describes him as a priest who defied the Roman emperor ban on marriages and engagements by marring young people in secret. For violation of this ban, he was arrested and executed.

Another legend describes Saint Valentine as a person who has helped some Christians who were persecuted. As a result of this support, he was imprisoned. While in custody, he converted a prisoner and his family to Christianity and he restored sight of prisoner’s blind daughter, with whom he fell in love. In the morning of his execution, Valentine sent a farewell message signed "From Your Valentine."

The truth is that there were so many people with the name of Valentine that there may be a lot of legends. For example in the Orthodox calendar appear six times martyrs named Valentine.

Valentine’s Day, celebrated on 14^th February is a paradox because none of the Catholic or Orthodox churches celebrate Saint Valentine on this day. Since 1969, the Catholic Church decided to no longer celebrate Saint Valentine on February 14 because of the few data about his life.

In recent years Valentine’s Day has become more a commercial  celebration than a religious celebration. Because of this fact, Valentine’s Day looks similar everywhere around the world: flowers everywhere, romantic dinners, gifts of all kinds and couples holding their hands on the street more than ever.

In Poland and in Romania, this feast has become increasingly popular since 1990 after the fall of communism.

Before 1990, in Romania the feast of love was called Dragobetele and it was celebrated on 24^th February. The feast has ancient origin, being present in the Romanian mythology. Dragobetele was the son of "Baba Dochia” and he was handsome young boy who seduced women he had met in his way. In folklore, Dragobetele is called also: "The Head of Spring", " The Head of Summer" or "Bird’s fiancé".

On this day, girls and boys met in front of church and went to the forest to pick spring flowers.

On the village’s hills were lit fires and around them boys and girls spent their time talking and dancing. At noon, girls ran to their homes, being pursued by boys who like them. If the boy was swift and caught the girl, and she liked him, she kissed him in front of all. Hence the saying: "Dragobetele kisses the girls!”. This kiss symbolized the engagement of the couple for a year or more. This feast was an opportunity to show the person whom you love to the community.

Also on this day, people had to take care of animals in the yard and the birds of the air. They didn’t sacrifice animals to not spoil the animal’s mating ritual.

There are some customs regarding to this day. The men were not supposed to annoy women, because otherwise the will not have a good year. Youth believed that on this day they should joke and respect this feast in order to be in love all year. People may not sew and work the field, but it was good to do general cleaning in the house in order to have prosperity during the year.

It is said that on this day it is not allowed to cry, tears during this day will bring trouble and sorrow in the following months.

In the last years, the awareness of Romanians regarding the feast of Dragobete has grown increasingly, and many people renounced to celebrate Valentine's Day on 14^th February, choosing to revive Romanian feast - Dragobetele on 24^th February.

Considering that love is a feeling that is built during a long period of time, it should be celebrated every day by showing to the beloved how much he or she means to you. Also, where is love there is trust, understanding, tolerance, strength to overcome the toughest obstacles, motivation, hope, happiness, relaxation and many other emotions and feelings that we experience every day by loving, while we are creating a corner of paradise on this Earth.