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Valentine's Day

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Saint Valentine's Day falls on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers let each other know about their love by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The holiday is named after two men named Valentine, both Christian martyrs. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of valentines. Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentines are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines. In the United States, the marketing of Valentines Day has tagged it as a hallmark holiday.

Valentine's Day in Other Cultures

Date	Cultures
February 14	Iran - In Persian culture, this popular date is discreetly celebrated by most lovers despite the disapproval of such occasion by the hard line Islamic government as a copycat of the west, but Persian youths and adults manage to celebrate following the traditions of the west disregarding the limitations and restrictions imposed by the government.
February 14	Mexico - In Mexico, the Dia del amor y la amistad, which means Love and Friendship Day, is celebrated on the February 14. In this country the Amigo secreto (secret friend) tradition is quite popular, which consists of randomly assigning to each participant a recipient who is to be given an anonymous gift.
February 14	Finland - In Finland, Valentine's Day is called Ystavanpaiva, which means Friend's Day. As the name says the day is more about remembering your friends than your loved ones.
February 14	Slovenia - In Slovenia, a proverb says that St Valentine brings the keys of roots, so on February 14, plants and flowers start to grow. Valentine's Day has been celebrated as the day when the first works in the vineyards and on the fields commence. It is also said that birds propose to each other or marry on that day. Nevertheless, it has only recently been celebrated as the day of love. The day of love is traditionally March 12, the Saint Gregory's day.
February 14	Norway - In Norway, Valentines Day is known as Valentinsdagen. It is not celebrated to a large extent, but some people take time to be romantic with their partner, or send a card to a secret love.
February 14	Japan and South Korea - In Japan and South Korea, Valentine's Day has emerged, thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, as a day on which women, and less commonly men, give candy, chocolate or flowers to people they like. Rather than being voluntary however, this has become for many women - especially those who work in offices - an obligation, and they give chocolates to all their male co-workers, sometimes at significant personal expense. This chocolate is known as giri-choko, in Japan, from the words giri (obligation) and choko, meaning chocolate. This is opposed to honmei-choko, which is given to a person that someone loves or has a strong relationship with. Friends (usually girls) exchange chocolate that is referred to as tomo-choko, tomo means friend in Japanese.
February 24	Romania - In Romania, the traditional holiday for lovers is Dragobete, which is celebrated on February 24. It is named after a character from Romanian folklore who was supposed to be the son of Baba Dochia. Part of his name is the word drag (dear), which can also be found in the word dragoste (love). In recent years, Romania has also started celebrating Valentine's Day, despite already having Dragobete as a traditional holiday.
March 14	Japan and South Korea - By a further marketing effort, a reciprocal day, called White Day has emerged. On this day (March 14), men are supposed to return the favor by giving something to those who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day. Many men, however, give only to their girlfriends. Originally the return gift was supposed to be white chocolate or marshmallows (hence the name White Day). However, more recently men have taken the name to a different meaning, thus lingerie is quite a common gift.
April 14	South Korea - In South Korea, there is also an additional Black Day, held on April 14, when males who did not receive anything for Valentine's Day gather together to eat Jajangmyun (noodles in black sauce).
Lunar calendar 1st month 15th day	Chinese Culture - In Chinese culture, there is a similar counterpart of the Valentine's Day. It is called Lantern Festival or Shang Yuan Festival, on the 15th day of the 1st month of the lunar calendar. This is also the last day of Chinese New Year where Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year for as long as 15 days. During that day, girls traditionally write their name and address on a mandarin orange, and modern people will write their name, address, cell phone number and also email address and finally throw it onto a river to seek for a future lover. Boys will seek for these oranges to find their future lover. This tradition is still kept today.
June 12	Brazil - In Brazil, there is no such day as Valentine's Day. Instead, on June 12, Dia dos Namorados, means Boyfriend's or Girlfriend's Day, is celebrated. On this day, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, exchange gifts, cards and usually a flower bouquet. This day is chosen probably because it is one day before the Saint Anthony's day, there known as the marriage saint, when many single women perform popular rituals in order to find a good husband.
July 7, August 7 or lunisolar calendar 7th month 7th day	Japan - In Japanese culture, there is a similar counterpart of the Valentine's Day. It is called Tanabata, on July 7, celebrating the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi. Note that some cities in Japan celebrate Tanabata on August 7, and in some areas they celebrate still on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar.
Lunar calendar 7th month 7th day	Chinese Culture - The Night of Sevens or Qi Xi sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. It is traditional for young girls to demonstrate their domestic arts on this day and to make wishes for a good husband.
Tubeav 15th day	Israel - According to Jewish tradition the 15th day of the month of Av is the festival of love. In ancient times girls would wear white dresses and dance in the vineyards, where the boys would be waiting for them. In modern Israeli culture this is a popular day to pronounce love, propose marriage and give gifts like cards or flowers.
September third Friday and Saturday	Colombia - In Colombia, the Dia del amor y la amistad, which means Love and Friendship Day, is celebrated on the third Friday and Saturday in September. In this country the Amigo secreto (secret friend) tradition is quite popular, which consists of randomly assigning to each participant a recipient who is to be given an anonymous gift.
November 11	South Korea - In South Korea, there is also Pepero Day, celebrated on November 11, during which young couples give each other romantic gifts.