10 Valentine’s Day Traditions From All Over The World

Valentine’s Day is such a special time of year, celebrating in different places all across the globe. It is a day when people tell each other how much they love one another, and display it to the world with acts of affections, gifts, and surprises. Many people view Valentine’s Day as an excuse for big box stores to overprice things like flowers, chocolates, and candies, and many see Valentine’s Day as pure commercialism and materialism. However, Valentine’s Day is celebrated differently all across the planet, and this list gives ten different examples of different traditions across the world.

Brazil

Brazilian’s leave everything to luck on Valentine’s Day. One of their traditions is to place the names of all of their crushes into a hat, and then pick one. The one they pick is the one they are destined to be with.

Philippines

In the Philippines, thousands of couples gather on Valentine’s Day for mass weddings.

Latvia

In Latvia, after they separated from the Soviet Union, they began to celebrate Valentine’s Day by putting stickers on the people they love!

Ghana

Ghana has renamed February 14th to what it should really be called everywhere – National Chocolate’s Day. They celebrate the cocoa bean, which is one of their largest exports.

Malaysia

Malaysian’s celebrate love differently than the rest of the world. On the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar, women will write their phone number on an orange and throw it into the nearest river. Their hope is that their soulmate will find it and call them.

Denmark and Norway

Denmark and Norway celebrate Valentine’s Day with a fun guessing game. Men will write letters to their crushes anonymously. They’ll sign it with dots (one dot for each letter of their name). If the girl guesses correctly who the man is, the man gives them an egg on Easter. If the girl doesn’t guess correctly, she owes him an egg.

Israel

Israel doesn’t exactly celebrate Valentine’s Day. Instead they celebrate Tu B’av, which is an ancient Jewish holiday that is basically a matchmaking celebration. It’s also celebrated in July or August, not February!

South Korea

In South Korea, they take love really seriously. Not only do they celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th, but they give their loved ones gifts on the 14th of every month.

Italy

In Italy, people actually visit the skull of St. Valentine on Valentine’s Day. The skull is covered in flowers, so it looks pretty cool, and it’s a great historical treat!

Wales

In Wales, their Valentine’s Day tradition is to give the person you love a spoon.