Valentine’s Day Celebrations on the Continents

Valentine’s Day celebrations across the continents have a varying intensity of joy and gala each year. While in some places it is a major holiday event, in some places it is observed with little celebration. While we catch a glimpse of the event on every continent, in North America, the people of Canada and the United States celebrate the occasion with great enthusiasm. School and college students exchange Valentine’s cards and also host Valentine’s Day parties where they exchange candy rack cards. For these celebrations, students make their own fancy little boxes or envelopes to place the cards in. Students also actively enjoy creating their own handmade valentines out of red or white paper and other items such as heart shaped paper doilies etc. The creation of cards and Valentine’s cards is an activity that is highly pursued by these students. Both children and adults offer flowers and sweets to their spouses or loved ones. Young people can dance to celebrate the occasion.

In our appreciation of Valentine’s Day celebrations on every continent, let’s take Europe next. When we come to Europe, in most European countries Valentine’s Day is celebrated with enthusiasm. The American custom of giving gifts and roses to a loved one is followed in some European countries such as Germany and Austria. In some countries, white pressed or sweet flowers called Snowdrops are offered to the loved one. In some territories like Denmark, men send a joke letter called ‘Gaekkebrev’ to their lady love. It would contain a romantic verse and instead of signing it, the man would mark it with dots equal in number to the letters of his name. If the day before identifies the sender, he would receive an egg at Easter. People in England observe a few other customs on Valentine’s Day. The women would put a bay leaf in each corner of their pillow and eat eggs from which the yolk was removed and replaced with salt. It is their belief that such a practice would allow them to dream of their potential husbands. In another custom, women wrote on each piece of paper the name of their lovers and this was placed on clay and dropped into water. The name of the lover on the piece of paper that appears first will be her future husband.

As we look at Valentine’s Day celebrations across the continents, let’s turn to Asia. In China and some other territories, the day is not celebrated on the usual day of celebration in other countries, that is, February 14. According to Chinese custom, the day falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. A traditional custom is that when the star Vega appears in the sky, maidens place a needle on the surface of the water. It marks the occasion for girls looking for their possible husbands. The occasion grants many concessions for business purchases.