Will you be celebrating Valentine's Day this year?

Many Aussies still enjoy spending Valentine’s Day with their significant other. Where did Valentine’s Day come from? How do other countries celebrate?

According to Canstar Blue’s latest consumer survey, many Aussies are planning something special for this year’s Valentine’s Day. But if you’re bored of the usual flowers and chocolate and not sure what to do, here’s how to make VDay special for your significant other.

Will Aussies be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year?

Aussies may not be a very romantic bunch, but 28% say they plan to do something extra special for their partner this Valentine’s Day. Our latest Canstar Blue survey found the following:

• Public displays of affection are still a winner. 29% of women have had flowers sent to their workplace on Valentine’s Day – and 80% of them thought it was sweet.
• The majority (58% of women and 70% of men) think men and women should put equal amounts of effort into making Valentine’s Day special for each other.
• Nearly 1 in 2 Aussies still say Valentine’s Day is a special day, while on the other end of the spectrum, 53% say it’s more of a chore than anything els12e.
• Are half of us heartless? 54% say they do not believe in celebrating it at all.
• People in NSW were the most likely to make an effort to make the day special, whereas people in South Australia were the most likely to say they were bored with the usual gifts and viewed it as a chore.

How did Valentine’s Day start?

What’s the real story behind the history of Valentine’s Day?

The most well-known story about St Valentine is that Emperor Claudius II had outlawed marriage for young men because single men made better soldiers, but Valentine continued to perform Christian marriages in secret. The Emperor had him put to death for disobeying his decree.

While he was in prison for marrying young people, he began helping persecuted Christians escape the Roman prison where they were being tortured. Valentine prayed over the blind daughter of the jailor, Asterius, and she was healed, so he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine”.

People loved the story of a priest who gave everything to fight injustice. So at the end of the 5^th century, the Catholic church placed St Valentine’s Feast Day in the middle of February to replace Lupercalia, an earlier pagan festival for the Roman gods of fertility and agriculture.

The French claim to have written the first Valentine’s Day card. In 1415, Charles, Duke of Orleans sent love letters to his wife from his cell in the Tower of London. One of the poems he sent her can be seen in the manuscript collection at the British Library in London.

How do people around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day?

• Denmark and Norway: Men celebrate by writing an anonymous ‘gaekkebrev’ (a funny, rhyming poem) to their woman of choice, leaving a row of dots instead of signing their name. If she guesses correctly who it was, he owes her an Easter egg on Easter Sunday. If she can’t guess, she owes him an Easter egg.
• Slovenia: This time of year is usually when the ground thaws after winter and plants and flowers begin to revive. Farmers return to work in their vineyards and fields on Valentine’s Day, and everyone else has a tradition of walking barefoot on the frozen ground. Celebrations of love happen later, on St Vincent’s Day on February 22 and St Gregory’s Day on March 12, and finally on St Anthony’s Day (the patron saint of love) on June 13.
• Japan and Korea: Japanese and Korean people celebrate two Valentine’s Days – because one is not enough. On February 14, girls give chocolate to the guys (usually handmade!), and then on March 14 it is “White Day”, and guys give white chocolate to gals. Koreans also celebrate “Black Day” on April 14, when single people gather to eat “jajangmyeon” noodles with black bean sauce to symbolise either happy independence or mourning.
• The Philippines: Mass weddings see hundreds of couples gather in a public place to be married at the same time. In 2013, 4,000 couples got married on February 14.
• Wales: The Welsh celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day (patron saint of lovers) on January 25, after the 5^th century princess, Dwynwen, who was unable to marry her beloved and prayed for other lovers to find more happiness than she did. In an old tradition that has continued in modern times, Welsh men give their ladies spoons that bear symbolic designs about a man’s heart and his hard-working nature. These were once carved from wood and given instead of engagement rings.
• Ghana: To promote Ghana being one of the world’s largest chocolate exporters, their tourism ministry introduced VDay as “National Chocolate Day” in 2007. Many restaurants make their menus “chocolate items only” on this day.
• Latin America: In Latin American countries, love means more than just romantic love, and family and friends gather to celebrate together. In the Dominican Republic they play a Secret Santa-style gift giving game called ‘Angelito’, while in El Salvador the game is called ‘Amigo Secreto’ (Secret Friend). Guatemala features a festive Senior Citizen’s Parade.
• Baltic Region: In Estonia and Finland, VDay is called “Friend’s Day” so that single people don’t feel left out. But if single people do feel like finding their next partner, they can take a ride on the Estonian “love bus”, a city loop bus that encourages mingling and conversation.
• China: Chinese people celebrate the Qixi Festival (“Night of Seven”) in early August on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, when girls will pray to find good husbands. This festival celebrates the tragic love legend of Zhinu and her mortal husband Niulang, two stars separated by the Milky Way. The stars, Vega and her western counterpart, reunite once a year on Qixi.
• Germany: In Germany, as well as the usual chocolates and flowers, pig-themed presents are popular. The pig represents luck and lust.
• Vietnam: Couples wear the same colour of clothes.

Some countries such as India, Nepal and Bangladesh restrict “the day of love” to adults only, to prevent children and high school students from being distracted from their studies by crushes. Saudi Arabia is the only country we know of that has banned Valentine’s Day outright since 2008. Florists and gift shops are not permitted to sell or display anything coloured red on this day.

So if you’re looking for something more interesting than chocolates or flowers, why not write your beloved a ‘gaekkebrev’ or take them for a barefoot walk, or hold a Friend’s Day Secret Santa party?

If you’ll be buying your loved one a gift this year, just make sure your transaction account is up to scratch. Better to use debit than credit!

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