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On February 14th every year, lovers all over the world go out to mark
the feast of St Valentine’s, commonly referred to as Valentine’s Day.
The celebrations originated from an ancient Roman tradition called
Lupercalia where young men stripped naked and ran around spanking young
maidens mildly to boost their fertility.
When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire,
this feast was incorporated into the Christian tradition, transforming
into the feast of Saint Valentine who was known for performing forbidden
marriages. For his digression, Saint Valentine was killed on February
14, and today, darlings around the world honour Saint Valentine on this
day.
Typically, people go out to celebrate their loved ones by gifting
roses, chocolates, teddy bears and others just to show their love and
affection. However, in certain parts of the world, some interesting
traditions are carried out in observance of the feast day.
Here are some of them!
Japan
In Japan, Valentine’s is reserved for women to give gifts to men.
These gifts are mostly chocolate and are of different types: giri choco
(obligation chocolate), for friends and colleagues, and honmei choco
(true feeling chocolate) when it’s a romantic relationship. The men, on
the other hand, have to give gifts ranging from white chocolates to
cookies, sweets or even jewellery. The only difference is that the men
give their gifts a month after on a day referred to as White Day. This
tradition is also common practice in Vietnam, South Korea and Taiwan.
Denmark
All over the world, cards with thoughtful messages are sent to loved
ones but the Danes have an interesting tradition that goes far back as
the 18th century. For them, secret admirers will send joking letters
(gaekkebrev) to their crushes, commonly in the form of a paper snowflake
featuring a poem. The sender signs their name in dots and has to give
the recipient an Easter egg if he or she manages to guess their
identity.
Philippines
The Filipinos go an extra mile when gift exchange is the topic of the
day. For them, they have to go as far as getting married to prove their
love. Hundreds of couples participate in mass wedding ceremonies
sponsored by the local government. This singular act helps couples who
can’t afford to get married seeing as the wedding cake, flowers and
rings are sponsored by the government.
South Africa
Like many other parts of the world, South Africans celebrate
Valentine’s Day with flowers and other symbols of love. It’s also usual
for South African women to pin the names of their love interest on their
shirtsleeves following how it was originally done with Lupercalia.
Imagine this happening in Nigeria and multiple people having one
person’s name?!
Italy
A popular Italian Valentine’s Day tradition was for young single
girls to wake up before dawn to spot their future husbands. The belief
was that the first man a woman saw on Valentine’s Day was the man she
would marry within a year. Or he’d at least strongly resemble the man
she would marry.
Which of these traditions is most interesting?
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Source: TheGuardian