Celebrating Love Around The World
by Sharon Bryant
It's almost Valentine's Day. Have you planned to do something special? There are so many ways to celebrate. You might be celebrating the love you and your partner share, or the love you feel for someone you care about.
Love Around The World
Love is celebrated in different ways around the world. I thought it might be fun to explore this a little.
Japanese women traditionally give men chocolates on Valentine's Day. They used to give inexpensive chocolates, giri choco, to co-workers though this is less common these days. Honmei choco (special chocolate which is often homemade) is reserved for romantic partners. Japanese men generally don't give women Valentine's Day gifts. They reciprocate one month later on White Day by giving gifts that are two to three times the value of what they have received.
In Germany, it's traditional to give Valentines gifts of chocolates, flowers, or cartoons or keepsakes of pigs. Pigs symbolise good luck in Germany and are just as much a part of Valentine's Day as cupids in some other parts of the world.
Saint Valentine is a patron saint of spring in Slovenia. Valentine's Day is celebrated as the time when life begins to stir again. One traditional Slovenia idea is that birds "propose" on Valentine's Day. Traditionally people walk barefoot through the icy fields to see and appreciate the changes that springtime brings.
There are so many other beautiful loving traditions: Welsh love spoons, mountainous wedding ceremonies in Thailand, a four day festival in Verona with a letter writing contest to Juliet, and mass wedding ceremonies in public spaces in Manila.
I hope you thoroughly enjoy February 14 either thinking of or being with someone you love.
How do you plan to spend Valentine's Day?
I love to love spending time with my husband, family and friends.
I love to laugh with friends and family.
I love to learn more about love around the world.
