5 strange Valentine's Day traditions from around the world

omotolani

February 15, 2018 1:29 PM

From obligatory chocolates and anonymous poems, these peculiar Valentine gestures are as diverse as the countries they originate from.

1. Women hand out chocolate in Japan

In Japan, it's the women who hand out the chocolate. Different chocolate signifies different relationships.

Giri-choko, translates as 'obligation chocolate' and is given to men without any romantic intention like bosses, colleagues, relatives and close male friends.

Cho-giri choko, is pity chocolate; cheap chocolate that girls give to people they don't really like but feel sorry for, such as an unpopular co-worker.

Honmei chocko, favourite or 'true feeling' chocolate is given to boyfriends, lovers and husbands.

2. In South Korea single ladies celebrate each other

The women in South Korea follow their Japanese sisters in presenting chocolate to men on February 14. But they also celebrate single life by catching up with their unattached friends and tucking into Jajangmyeon, a dish made up of white Korean noodles and black bean sauce.

3. Norwegians send funny poems

In Norway, secret admirers send the objects of their desire funny little poems called gaekkebrev. The only clues to their identity being a dot representing each letter of his name. If the recipient guesses who the poem is from, they earn themselves an Easter egg on Easter. If she doesn't, she has to give the man an egg.

4. Estonians celebrate friends day instead

In Estonia, Valentines Day is called Sōbrapäev, or ‘Friends Day.’ People exchange cards and gifts among friends with a cheery ‘Happy Friends Day.’

5. Gifting Love spoon by the Welsh

The Welsh do Valentines Day a bit earlier on January 25 by gifting love-spoons. The spoons are an age-old tradition where Welsh men would carve intricately carved spoons and present them to the woman they were interested in. The designs they carved were symbolic and often had hidden clues. The number of beads attached represented the number of offspring the man was expecting his beloved to produce.

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