What can I say, Love is a universal theme!
You walk through and through, you see lovers. Open the television, listen to the radio, read the newspapers-- come on! Everyone's ecstatic about Valentine's Day, but traditionally, not everyone chooses to celebrate it with roses and boxes of chocolate. Little did we know that there are cultures that have special traditions remembering St. Valentine.
Tracing the historical customs, In ancient England, children used to dress up like adults and visit houses and sing love songs to the people living in it. During the Middle Ages, unmarried men and women used to draw names on bowls to see who their valentines would be and putting that name on their sleeves for a week.
Though these traditions might not exist nowadays, there are countries that still practices tradition that is quite related to the latter examples.
By. Mariz Pamaong
You walk through and through, you see lovers. Open the television, listen to the radio, read the newspapers-- come on! Everyone's ecstatic about Valentine's Day, but traditionally, not everyone chooses to celebrate it with roses and boxes of chocolate. Little did we know that there are cultures that have special traditions remembering St. Valentine.
Tracing the historical customs, In ancient England, children used to dress up like adults and visit houses and sing love songs to the people living in it. During the Middle Ages, unmarried men and women used to draw names on bowls to see who their valentines would be and putting that name on their sleeves for a week.
Though these traditions might not exist nowadays, there are countries that still practices tradition that is quite related to the latter examples.
- On Malaysia's day of Love, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, women write their phone numbers on oranges before throwing them into the closest river with hopes that the man of their dreams might pick one up. Fruit vendors collect the oranges, which are considered lucky fruit, and resell them at the market-- phone numbers and all! Can't you see a romantic comedy flick starting with a guy finding a "call me" orange in his bag of groceries?
- Scotland has a similar party game for unmarried men and woman. During a Valentine's Day get-together, each single person writes his or her name on a piece of paper, which is then thrown into two hats--one containing the men's names, and another containing the women's names. Everyone draws a name and the couples pair off for the evening. Since it's unlikely that the name will actually match, the man has to stick with the woman who picked his name, regardless of whose name he picked.
- In South Korea, the 14th day of every month is dedicated to an aspect of love. For example, May is Rose Day, October is Wine Day and December is Hug Day. On February 14, women give chocolate to men, and on March 14 (also called "White Day"), men give non-chocolate candy to women. People who didn't receive anything on either day get together on April 14, or Black Day, to eat black bean noodles (jajanmyeon) and lament their singleness. Genius!
By. Mariz Pamaong
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