Valentine's Day Traditions from around the World

VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WALES LOVE SPOONS The Welsh Love Spoon is an intricately carved wooden spoon, lovingly whittled down by a young man for the woman he loves. The tradition dates back 100s of years - a piece dating back to 1667 is on display in the Welsh Folk Museum in Cardiff. JAPAN HONMEI CHOCO In Japan, women gift different kinds of chocolate to signify different relationships. Honmei choco is 'true feeling' chocolate, of high quality and given to a true love, while Giri-choco is gifted to a man with no romantic connection, like a close male friend, a boss or a colleague. Cho-giri choco, on the other hand, is pity chocolate, given to a man the woman feels sympathy for. Awkward. DENMARK E GAEKKEBREV Translated into English as 'joke letters', the true meaning of Gaekkebrev is much more romantic. Dating back to v Love you the 18th Century, men traditionally wrote original LerEm W seN m poems or rhymes and cut beautiful patterns into the dolor sto paper they were written on. The only hint as to the sender was a signature with a dot for each letter of the man's name; if the lucky lady guessed the sender, she recieves an egg at Easter, but if she guessed wrong, she has to buy the poor lovelorn guy an Easter egg instead. FRANCE LOTERIE D'AMOUR A not-so-romantic tradition from the land of love. Une loterie d'amour, or drawing for love, involved single men calling through the windows of houses opposite them until everyone was paired off. If the man was less that impressed by his lady suitor, he would simply leave her for another woman. These scorned women built a large bonfire, burning images of men that had hurt them in the past. Unsurprisingly, given the passion (and the fire), this tradition was eventually banned. ENGLAND BAY LEAVES In the 1700s, fair English maidens would pin four or five bay leaves to their pillow - traditionally on all four corners, and then perhaps one in the middle - to summon sweets dreams of their future husband as they slept. THE PHILIPPINES WEDDINGS EN MASSE In 2012, more than 2,000 couples tied the knot or renewed their vows on Valentine's Day to celebrate their love. That jumped to 4,000 weddings in 2013 and another 4,000 in 2014. Are there any unwed couples left to get hitched this year? FINLAND YSTÄVÄNPÄIVÄ Ystävänpäivä, or 'Friend's Day', is a day for remembering your friends, not your lover. A nice destination for singletons, should you be finding yourself alone this year. SOUTH KOREA JAJANGMYEON South Koreans follow similar traditions to the Japanese, though the scorned singletons celebrate their independence with jajangmyeon, a dish made of white noodles with black bean sauce (or simply, 'black noodles'). Married couples mock, and cruelly call this a dish of mourning. GERMANY PIGS German celebrations are fairly traditional and in line with the rest of Europe - however, many Valentine's gifts will feature a pig, which is (strangely enough) a German mbol of lust and luck. TAIWAN ROSES Be careful with the number of flowers you gift to a girl in Taiwan. A single rose is as romantic a gesture as ever, but 99 roses means 'forever' and a whopping bouquet of 108 roses signifies a proposal of marriage. Ogiftcloud WHEN WORDS AREN'T ENQUGH <«««