Valentine’s Day became popular in the United States in the 1900s when Hershey’s introduced their chocolate Kisses. The company created the chocolate to resemble a small drop meant to invoke the feeling of a kiss. For consumers, receiving this chocolate on Valentine’s Day symbolized an extra special meaning, and when Hallmark started to sell their first Valentine’s Day cards, it was only a matter of time before the commercial holiday spread across the country.
While Valentine’s Day is here to stay, some countries have tried to reduce the commercial thematics and focus on the religious aspect of the holiday. In this article we will learn about other countries, and how they celebrate Valentine’s Day!
Italy
In Italy, the special day has an important religious aspect as the holiday’s origins began during the Roman Empire. February 14th, represents the feast day of Saint Valentine. In the fifth century, the Pope created this feast day as an effort to stop fertility as Saint Valentine’s popularity grew dramatically due to the romantic poets Chaucer and Shakespeare.
Today, Italy celebrates Valentine’s Day with baci, which is the Italian word for kisses. These chocolates have a hazelnut filling and are crowned with a whole hazelnut. The foil wrapping also covers a tiny love note which includes a romantic quote.
Locks of Love are also common to see in Italy as lovers will lock a padlock on a bridge and throw the key into the water. While this tradition seems charming, Italian police have been trying to stop this practice as the padlocks have been obstructing the old bridges of Italy, and polluting the water with keys.
2. Denmark
In Denmark, people will send white flowers called ‘snowdrops’ to their friends and sweethearts to express celebration and love. Love notes are also a common item to send with the flowers, and these cards range in sentiment from touching to hilarious. These cards, gaekkebrev, or “snowdrop letters”, can be anonymous joke letters where the signature is written only using dots. As the signature is anonymous, the recipient must identify the sender, and if they correctly guess the sender, they are owed an egg at Easter. It also works in reverse.
The day celebrations are considered more youth-centered, so it is common for the young people to participate in concerts and festival celebrations. It is common to find people visiting the Little Mermaid, Den Lille Havfrue in Copenhagen, and the famous Tivoli amusement park on Valentine’s Day.
3. Germany
In Germany, couples will give each other pig shaped gifts, as pigs are a symbol of good luck. The most popular Valentine’s Day gifts in Germany include pig-shaped charms which are given for good fortune, candy pigs to symbolize lust, and pig-pun cards to give to a friend for some casual humor.
While chocolate is given year-round in Germany, heart-shaped gingerbread is reserved for the holiday as romantic messages are written in white frosting on gingerbread pieces.
4. Taiwan
In Taiwan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on both February 14th and July 7th. These two days represent Valentine’s Day and Qixi Valentine’s Day. Qixi Valentine’s Day follows the story of a young man called Niuland who helped an old buffalo recover from his old age and neglect. The buffalo guided the young man to the river, where he met and fell in love with a fairy. The two lovers married and had two kids. The fairy’s mother was upset that she married a mortal, and banished her to Heaven. However, the Queen Mother was touched by their devotion to one another, and allowed them to meet once a year on July 7th.
On July 7th, to celebrate the couple, females will gather in their front yard and set an altar to honor the couple. Food and gifts are set up to help the fairy get dressed up and prepared to meet her lover, Niulang. This day is not so much about couples in Taiwan, but to celebrate one individual couple, Zhinu and Niulang as they prepare to meet once a year.
On February 14th, Taiwanese singles will go to the Temple of Matchmaker and pray for a good match, while couples will give each other roses. The color and number of roses you give to someone have different meanings in Taiwan. For example, one red rose means “my only love”. Eleven roses mean “my favorite”, and ninety nine roses means “forever”. Given a rose, or specifically a number of roses, holds a symbolic meaning in Taiwan, one that is not given or taken lightly.
Sources:
http://www.stvalentinesday.org/valentines-day-in-denmark.html#:~:text=Valentine%27s%20Day%20is%20celebrated%20with,and%20art%20exhibitions%20take%20place.
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