Valentine’s Day Traditions All Around the World

Not every country turns to greeting cards and heart-shaped candies to declare love. Some exchange wooden spoons and pressed flowers, while others hold a special holiday for the loveless to mourn their single lives over black noodles.
 - Brazilians skip the February 14th celebration and instead celebrate Dia dos Namorados, or “Lovers’ Day,” on June 12th. 
- In South Korea the gift-giving starts on February 14th, when it’s up to women to woo their men with chocolates, candies and flowers and stops on April 14th when it’s customary for singles to mourn their solitary status by eating dark bowls of jajangmyeon, or black bean-paste noodles. 
- In Romania Dragobete is considered to be the equivalent of Saint Valentine`s Day and it is celebrete on the 24th February. 
- While Valentine’s Day celebrations in the Philippines are similar to celebrations in Western countries, one tradition has swept the country and led to thousands of couples sharing a wedding day on February 14th. 
- The equivalent to Valentine’s Day in China is Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month each year. During Qixi, young women prepare offerings of melon and other fruits to Zhinu in hopes of finding a good husband. 
- On the eve on Valentine’s Day, women in England used to place five bay leaves on their pillows — one at each corner and one in the center — to bring dreams of their future husbands. 
- An Italian Valentine’s Day tradition is for young, unmarried girls to wake up before dawn to spot their future husbands. The belief is that the first man a woman saw on Valentine’s Day is the man she would marry within a year. 
- A traditional Valentine’s Day event in France was the loterie d’amour, or “drawing for love.” Men and women would fill houses that faced one another, and then take turns calling out to one another and pairing off. Men who weren’t satisfied with their match could simply leave a woman for another, and the women left unmatched gathered afterward for a bonfire. 
- Danish Valentine’s Day tradition is the exchange of “lover’s cards. On February 14th, men also give women gaekkebrev, a “joking letter” consisting of a funny poem or rhyme written on intricately cut paper and signed only with anonymous dots. If a woman who receives the gaekkebrev can correctly guess the sender, she earns herself an Easter egg later that year. - One traditional romantic Welsh gift is a love spoon. As early as the 17th century, Welsh men carved intricate wooden spoons as a token of affection for the women they loved. Patterns and symbols were carved into these love spoons, each signifying a different meaning. A few examples include horseshoes, which stand for good luck; wheels, which symbolize support; and keys, which symbolize the keys to a man’s heart.