Valentine's Day Celebrations In Different Countries

Valentine's Day is known for the holiday of love, consisting of couples gifting one another with items such as chocolates, roses and love letters. It's this day, February 14th of each year when the feeling of love is in the air, more so than usual. Women across the world are anticipating the gifts they will receive from their significant other to show just how much they mean to them and the love they share. This holiday is celebrated around the world, and each country has their own twist on this romantic day. Here's a look at how a few other countries celebrate this day.

France is widely known as the most romantic place in the world. The locals celebrate Valentine's Day with gifts of love just as the Americans, surprising their partners with bouquets of flowers, boxes of chocolates, romantic letters and an evening on the town. However; the country had their own unique traditions years ago that have now been banned. Men and women would participate in what was called, "Drawing for Love." This tradition consisted of them gathering in houses that faced one another and each person would call out to someone and then they would pair off together. If either one was not happy with the person they were paired with, the men could simply leave the women for another. The women who were not satisfied with the man they were paired with, they would leave them and join other women at a bonfire. It's at this bonfire, the unmatched women could let out their frustrations and burn photos of the men who dumped them for another woman. This tradition began to cause so much trouble that the French government officially banned this activity.

On Valentine's Day in this country, locals celebrate with gifts and romance. They also have a running tradition where many couples gather together and get married at the same time. Hundreds of couples gather in local places such as the malls, churches, parks or any other location they see that may be fit to exchange vows and begin their lives together. This mass wedding tradition is still followed today, which makes for thousands of married couples sharing the same anniversary, February 14th.

Italians enjoy celebrating Valentine's Day with a romantic dinner. During the dinner, they exchange gifts such as flowers, romantic love letters and jewelry. One popular gift given on this day is Baci Perugina, which is a chocolate covered hazelnut wrapped up with romantic says written on the wrapper in different languages. In older traditions, lovers would gather in gardens and listen to music, take a romantic stroll and listen to readings.

Valentine's Day is celebrated by attending festivals and exchanging gifts of love. It is also tradition for the single women in this country to write the names for the men they are interested in on a piece of paper and pin it to their shirt sleeve. This tradition is so the men would know who had their eye on them, and it's also another way for the men to find out who may be their secret admirers. Pinning names on their shirt sleeve could help singles get together and find love, however; there are some who don't have the same feelings for the women who wear their names on their sleeves, which could call for a broken heart on this day of love.

On this day, February 14th, male suitors would present their loved ones with a bouquet of flowers and plan a romantic day they can spend together, exchanging tokens of love such as love letters an affection. However; those couples in love don't always have to wait for Valentine's Day to show their love and admiration for a lady, this can be done on any special occasion.