What
Are Valentine’s Day Traditions?
- by KissMeGoodnight.com
St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated all across
the world on February 14th as a day to commemorate the essence
of love and happiness in our lives. Young and old couples,
newly weds, and even singles participate in the celebrations
every year. Traditionally couples on this day exchange their
truest and deepest feelings of love and affection towards each
other in various ways.
You also come across Valentine’s Day marriages when couples
decide to tie the knot on this special day to make their wedding
all the more memorable.
You might be interested in knowing about some of the age-old
as well as modern Valentine traditions coming down through
years and practiced each year by friends and lovers all over
the world on this special day.
Here is a brief overview of the different ancient and modern
day V-Day traditions followed in different parts of the world.
From
times immemorial since Valentine’s Day celebrations began
the tradition of exchanging cards follows till date. Different
forms of cards in myriad designs and styles were exchanged
to convey love and affection. Lovers exchanged cards set in
intricate lace paper, handmade paper that were variously decorated
with beads, sea shells, cones, seeds, berries, dried seaweed,
moss, dried/artificial flowers, etc. These cards contained
tender love messages for the beloved written in hand. Nowadays
this tradition still persists and lovers exchange instant e-
love cards online!
The
tradition of exchanging flowers and expressing profound
love and feelings on Valentine’s Day is quite popular. Red
signifies love and passion so red roses were the ultimate choice
that most lovers gifted to their sweethearts to convey their
emotions on V-Day. However, nowadays couples also exchange
other exotic flower varieties such as wild orchids, brightly
colored carnations, lilies, etc. to woo their beloved on Valentine’s
Day!
Lovers
would also compose beautiful and heart-warming verses and
sonnets on love and passion portraying their intense emotions
in words. In the olden days these literary compositions on
love and affairs would be published in magazines and periodicals
on February 14th commemorating St. Valentine’s preaching of
love and friendship.
Another
Scottish Valentine tradition was that on the V-Day
the very first man or woman that passes by you on the street
or anywhere else that day would become your valentine!
Centuries
ago it was customary in Italy that all young couples
would assemble in a beautiful landscaped garden where the lovers
would exchange love songs and poetries to celebrate their love
for one another. Then they would stroll off together holding
hands into the garden. This V-Day tradition ceased to exist
in the modern times.
In
the Middle Ages young men and women would pick up chits
scribbled with names from bowls to see who their Valentines
would be. They would then wear these names on their sleeves
for one week to convey their feelings. Men with the name of
a girl up their sleeve would have to protect her during the
following year and both the girl and the boy would exchange
love tokens throughout the year.
Another Valentine’s Day tradition was to gift
wooden love spoons to the one you love that had hearts, keys and keyholes
variously etched on them. These carvings indicated, “You unlock
my heart!”
In
Japan women buy chocolate gifts of two kinds on the occasion
of Valentine’s Day, namely, giri choco and honmei choco. The
former chocolate gift is an obligatory gift that Japanese women
present to their male bosses or male colleagues at office while
the latter is brought for that special someone in addition
to other Valentine gifts.
The
ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia was celebrated every
February in honor of the God Lupercus who the Romans believed
kept a watch over the shepherds and protected their flocks
from hungry wolves. During this festival also a custom in honor
of the Goddess Juno Februata was held. The names of young women
were put into a box and names were drawn by lot. The boys and
girls who were matched would be considered partners for the
year.
Another interesting Valentine’s Day tradition was people
believed that if you found a single glove on the road on
V-Day, your
would-be valentine would have the second one of the pair!
Well Valentine’s Day traditions are just so numerous. People
in different parts of the world have come up with unique ideas
and customs to convey their deepest feelings to the one they
love and adore through the ages! Whatever Valentine tradition
or custom one follows on this special day the bottom line will
always remain the same: “SPREAD LOVE AND BE LOVED!”
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KissMeGoodnight.com
: 2006
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