Valentine's Day - love all over the world

Pssst, here is a little reminder for those who tend to forget about planning an amorous gesture in time: Valentine’s Day is slowly approaching, the most romantic day of the year. Write it down in your calendar in capital letters: 14th February. Better safe than sorry, right?

The day of love as we know it is mostly celebrated with flowers, jewellery and chocolate, and writing tender notes for our partners. There are also plenty of traditions, like kids singing songs for which they are rewarded with sweets or small gifts. But how do other countries across the globe commemorate Saint Valentine’s death for love (yes, there is more than just the commercial side to it, even though most people - including me - probably don’t really care once they hold the chocolate in their hands)? Japanese men and women switch gender roles on this day, meaning that women give chocolate to men. There are different types of chocolates, which wordlessly define the relationship between the giver and the recipient. ‘Tomo choco’ is the ‘friend chocolate’ you give to your female friends. Obligation chocolate or ‘giri choco’ is quite inexpensive and usually given to colleagues and people you don’t have a romantic interest in. Buying the even cheaper ‘cho-giri choco’ means that you felt obliged to get something for that person even if you don’t really like them. If you receive the high-quality ‘honmei choco’ (‘true feelings chocolate’), you can call yourself lucky since that is the treat for boyfriends, lovers and husbands. In fact, sometimes it is made by the women themselves! On ‘White Day’ one month later, the men get the chance to reply to these gestures with presents for the women. In Denmark, men anonymously write women little notes and poems and they have to guess who their secret admirer is. The only hint they get is a number of dots as a signature at the bottom, one for each letter of the author’s name. If the women guess correctly, they will receive an Easter egg at Easter; if they don’t, they owe one to the writer. Whoever is single and not too happy about the enamoured couples all over the place should maybe consider spending the day in Estonia or Finland as they celebrate ‘Friends Day’ rather than Valentine’s Day. It is of course also for couples, lots of them getting married or engaged on this date, but mostly for friendships to be honoured. Therefore, many cards or presents are exchanged, similar to our traditional gift-giving. Many young South Africans take the term ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’ very literally, pinning the name of their love interest to their shirtsleeves. Shakespeare would have been thrilled. England’s Norfolk even has its own ‘Santa Clause – Valentine’s Edition’ for this special occasion: Jack Valentine, also known as Old Father or Old Mother Valentine, is said to knock on children’s doors and leave them presents or sweets on Valentine’s Eve. He or she mysteriously disappears afterwards, which assumingly makes it a lot easier than on Christmas Eve as no one has to dress up. At least I haven’t heard of a costume – and I couldn’t really imagine what it would look like either. France is naturally famous for being the most romantic country in the world. However, that nickname must have emerged after the government banned the following tradition due to the uncontrollable chaos it caused every year. ‘La loterie d’armour’ (= drawing for love) meant for women and men to enter houses and call the name of their chosen one through the window until everybody had a partner. Who would have thought that speed-dating existed back in the day? Well, it was probably not that speedy, considering that they had to shout through the windows instead of just sitting across from each other, but you know what I mean. Be that as it may, if a man wasn’t happy with his match, he could leave her and the woman had to call out to another one. The women who were left alone at the end of this charming ritual then made a bonfire to burn pictures of the one who rejected them, swearing and cursing him in the meantime. This doesn’t really sound like too much fun on either side, to be honest. Especially since being a female, the thought of a group of angry women burning all sorts of stuff while screaming hate to the entire male population seems rather dangerous to me. So as a consolation for all those not being too fond of certain Valentine’s Day rituals, always remember: it could have been worse. Wherever you live, whatever traditions you have and whether you are in a relationship or not: happy Valentine’s Day; make sure you let the special ones in your life know how much you appreciate them!