Glory Reitz
Assistant Editor
Valentine’s Day is a popular holiday for American couples, but many don’t realize how widely celebrated its traditions have become.
Valentine’s Day originated in Europe, so naturally the holiday is a big deal on that continent. In Denmark, according to the Huffington Post, friends and lovers exchange snowdrops and “lover’s cards,” traditionally a clear card displaying a photo of the card-giver offering a gift. Danish men also send women a gaekkebrev, or “joking letter,” a funny poem signed anonymously for the woman to guess its sender and earn an Easter egg.
France used to host Valentine’s Day loteries d’amour, “drawings for love,” which are akin to an in-person version of online dating, with a bonfire at the end for women to hurl insults at past lovers. However, the bonfires became violent enough that the loterie d’amour tradition was banned by the French government.
In Asia, Valentine’s Day takes a more unfamiliar turn. South Korea and Japan celebrate the holiday in three parts: on Feb. 14, women give men chocolate, candies and flowers, then wait until March 14, called White Day, for the men to turn the gift-giving back on the ladies. A month later, April 14, or Black Day, single friends get together to eat black bean noodles and commiserate about their solitary lives.
China doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, but they do have Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which they celebrate on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month (Aug. 29 this year) according to Travel China Guide. Although Chinese cities have begun to celebrate Qixi more like Valentine’s Day, the traditional festival has young women preparing offerings of melons and other fruits and praying for husbands.
Much of Africa celebrates Valentine’s Day in the classical European style because, like the U.S., that’s where they learned the tradition. However, South Africa practices a unique tradition in which women pin the names of their love interest onto their sleeve. According to the Huffington Post, this stems from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia.
According to Class Adventure Travel, Latin America spreads the love festivities across the entire year, celebrating not just Valentine’s Day, but also holidays such as Día del Amor, or “Day of Love” in Bolivia and Semana de la Dulzura, or “Sweetness Week” in Argentina.
In Brazil, Carnaval overshadows the entire month of February, so a lovers’ celebration is delayed until June 12, when the Brazilians celebrate Dia dos Namorados honoring St. Anthony, the patron saint of marriage and matchmaking. On this day, single Brazilian women traditionally draw at random the name of an eligible bachelor to pursue for marriage.
Sarah Horine, Crowder’s international program coordinator, said that understanding other cultures is necessary to understanding others’ unique qualities. “It’s very, very important to learn about other people’s cultures in order to learn more about each other and, I want to say to gain respect, but it’s not even really about that, it’s just being able to be human with each other!”
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