- How do you celebrate the day of love?
How do you feel about these Valentine’s traditions from everywhere? There are so many ways to celebrate!
In Finland and Estonia, it’s more about celebrating your friends. They have a celebration called Ystävän Päivä in Finland and in Estonia, they call their celebration Sõbrapäev. February 14th is for people to exchange presents and cards that read “Happy Friends Day.” This isn’t exactly what you want to hear from someone you like or love, but on the other hand, isn’t it a good thing to like the one you love?
In the Philippines, people like to get married for Valentine’s
Day. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of people choose Valentine’s Day to come together as a married couple. Because of the tradition and the numbers of mass marriages, it’s often celebrated by the government as a public service. (This helps those less priveleged citizens to tie the knot.
In Argentina, one day just isn’t enough for their Valentine’s celebrations. They devote an entire week to celebrating love during a festival for the feeling, known as Sweetness week. July 13th through 20th sets off this time with lovers exchanging kisses for candy. And to finish off the week, there is a day of friendship. What do you think of this as one of the best traditions from everywhere?
During Valentine’s Day in Norway, they have one of the most unusual Valentine’s Day traditions with Gaekkebrev or joke letters! These are known to be more romantic than they sound. If you have a secret crush, you start by writing a letter to your beloved and then cut small and intricate patterns into the paper and finishing off by pressing a small white Snowdrop flower inside. The joke part about it is at the bottom of the letter or the signature space, as it should be, but there isn’t one. Instead, the poet of the “love poem” finishes off the letter with a dot for each letter of their name. If a gal can guess who her admirer is, she wins an Easter egg come Easter. If the her perspective guy doesn’t guess it right, the lady will have to give the guy she likes an egg instead.
In France, they have Une loterie d’amour. This is actually an unromantic custom where singles line up in houses, facing
each other, and calling through the windows until they are paired off. For the women that still don’t have a partner, they get together to contruct a large bonfire, and then burn images of the men who left them while shouting insults towards the skies. Things started to get a little too out of sorts though, so much so that the governement banned the practice altogether. If you’re single, what do you think of the old French tradition as one of the unusual Valentine’s Day celebrations?
So what do you think of these Valentine’s traditions from everywhere? Let me know in the comments!