World’s Quirkiest Valentines Day Rituals!!

With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, shops are literally glittering with lights, chocolates, cakes and cards. But not every country turns to greeting cards or heart-shaped candies. In fact, some exchange pressed flowers and wooden spoons!

Can’t believe it?

Well, have a look at few of the most strange and wonderful Valentine’s Day traditions from around the world. Gear on to be surprised!

Denmark

Along with gifting pressed flowers, men also gift women gaekkebrev, a “joking letter”, that has a funny poem intricately carved on a paper along with anonymous dots.

Quite surprisingly, the woman does not know who the lover is.

If she receives the card and can rightly guess the sender, not only does the unrequited love get acknowledged, but also the woman receives an Easter egg that year. If she is stumped on who her lover is, she owes him an Easter egg instead.

France

Being the country of romance, well, it’s indeed quite certain that France would have its own peculiar culture of celebrating the Valentine’s Day.

In fact, it is said that the idea of the first Valentine’s Day card started with Charles, Duke of Orleans who sent love letters to his wife imprisoned in the Tower of London way back in 1415.

The colloquial tradition for celebrating the V—Day in France is called as loterie d’amour, or “drawing for love.” Men and women, facing each other’s house call their lovers name and get paired.

During nights, women burn the pictures of men who wronged them in bonfires, initiating the final closure.

South Korea

Valentine’s Day is celebrated from February till April!

Instead of men, it’s the women who woo their partners with cards, gifts and cakes on February 14^th  

The tradition is reversed on March 14^th, when finally the men shower their beloveds with gifts, cakes and cards. And for those who had been single, they embrace the tradition of solitary mourning on April 14^th by eating black bean paste noodles or dark bowls of jajangmyeon.

China

In China, known world-wide for its own indigenous cultures and festivals, even Valentine’s Day is celebrated with a twist.

Known as ‘Qixi’, falling on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, young women prepare fruit offerings of melon to God Zhinu in the hopes of finding a good husband for themselves.

It’s a very sacred tradition and couples head for temples to pray for their togetherness and prosperity. During the night, the couples wait to see the stars Vega and Altair coming close to each other in the mystical night sky.

Finland

In case you live in Finland, it does not have the tradition of gifts, chocolates or flowers for your partner. The notion of Valentine’s Day being a special day arrived quite late in Finland, around in 1987.

Ystävänpäivä is the Finnish name for St. Valentine’s Day. Rather than celebrating lovers, this day celebrates friends.

But thanks to Hollywood, Valentine’s Day is getting more recognition and people have started to declare their love and even announce their marriage on this day.

Philippines

Mass weddings take place in Philippines on Valentine’s Day. Hundreds of people gather at churches to get married in a royal and ceremonial manner. The air is filled with jubilation and happiness.

In fact, in 2012, more than 2000 couples got married on Valentine’s Day.

Italy

Initially, Italians used to celebrate Valentine’s Day as Spring Festival!

In one of the traditions, the young and single women used to get up before dawn to spot their future husbands.

The belief was that the first man she spots in the morning is the one she is destined to be with. Quite, interesting, isn’t it!

Well, that’s how incredibly and differently Valentine’s Day is celebrated throughout the world. In spite of the differences, the very idea of love is retained in all of them, quite charismatically.