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10 Unique Ways Of Expressing Love Around The World

10 Unique Ways Of Expressing Love Around The World

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Amour, liefde, dragoste, khærliged, mapenzi — whether your country celebrates Valentine’s Day or not, expressing love and affection as a community is universal. Here are 10 unique ways of expressing love around the world.

beadinggem.com
beadinggem.com

1. Zulu Love Letter, South Africa 

While Valentine’s Day isn’t celebrated in Zulu culture, colorful beads play an important role in communication between young men and women. Bead colors correspond to feelings. Red can mean anger, blue surrounded by yellow can represent pining, and if a girl likes a guy, she can send him a message called ucu — or love letter — in beads. After courting for a while, the boy will ask the girl the exact meaning of the beads. Some of the boys apparently are too hasty, and ask their sisters for help decoding.

Sources: victoriafalls-guide.net, beadinggem.com

wlconline.drake.edu
wlconline.drake.edu

2. Chocolates Winners in Japan

The Japanese like to stretch out Valentine’s Day for a month. On Feb. 14, women traditionally give homemade chocolates to various men in their lives, but only one special man receives the honmei-choco (prospective winner chocolate). Exactly one month later, the lucky man is supposed to return the favor with his own chocolate gift.

Sources: craftyshops.com, bizhat.com

myopera.com
myopera.com

3. Romanian Love Birds

Dragobete, or “Love Day,” is celebrated Feb. 24 in this Eastern European country. Dragobete is a Romanian mythological character similar in spirit to Eros or Cupid — a man who celebrated his various love affairs with beautiful women. Romanians also believe this to be the day that birds get engaged — birds being the messengers of God. Ornithologically, it’s around the season where birds are mating and building nests. Boys and girls exchange chocolates and gifts and display affection publicly.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, bizhat.com

livingmividaloca.com
livingmividaloca.com

4. Mexico, ‘Te Quiero’

In Mexico, Valentine’s Day is not so much about one-on-one love as it is about celebrating love for a community. El Dia del Amor y Amistad comes on Feb. 14, and Mexicans make it an inclusive holiday. Men often buy balloons and candy for the women of the house, and women bake for their friends and neighbors. So: “Te amo!” (to your lover) and “Te quiero!” (to your friends.)

Source: dailyfreepress.com

blurtit.com
blurtit.com

5. Scotland Date Search

Scotland’s “Search of the Valentine Date” is a different turn on the day of love. While not practiced by all Scottish lasses and lassies, should this method be chosen by the single rovers, the first man or woman spotted on the street by the one looking for a date becomes the Valentine for the day. Wonder how many long-term partnerships have arisen from this fun (albeit zany) holiday practice?

Sources: stvalentinesday.org, dosomething.org

rasid.com
rasid.com

6. Saudi Arabia and the Arab World

Valentine’s Day is banned in this Gulf country. Shop owners are allegedly prohibited from displaying hearts and an abundance of red roses in their display windows. Many other Arab-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa are less strict, but devout Muslims are known to consider the holiday a form of Western corruption. However, places like conservative Dubai and more secular Egypt do love to flaunt red colors and hearts on V-Day. The Arabic word mawadd” is used in the Quran to convey friendship and loyalty –the word’s root being wudd — the love Allah created between a man and a woman.

Source: globalvoicesonline.org

peopledaily.com.cn
peopledaily.com.cn

7. China’s Qixi Festival

In China, a sense of union through working together as a couple, or as a family, is celebrated over physical or verbal affection. This may be an offshoot of decades of socialism. China’s version of Valentine’s Day, the Qixi Festival, comes on the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar (usually mid-August). An important day for weddings, it’s also a meditation on women’s roles as homemakers and diligent wives in the Chinese culture.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, phys.org

keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk
keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

8. Iceland’s Man’s Day and Woman’s Day

On Feb. 12 every year, Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik celebrates “Museum Night,” where all museums and music venues are free and open until midnight. To kick off Valentine’s Day, Iceland has a “Love Walk.” People dress up in fun costumes, recite love poems and songs, and walk around a lake with swans floating and glowing on it like lanterns. Icelanders are more inclined to celebrate Man’s Day and Woman’s Day, which fall on certain dates according to the old Icelandic calendar. Traditional food, gifts, and affection are exchanged on these days.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, kenyonreview.org

mrscheesemakeslovelythings.blogspot.com
mrscheesemakeslovelythings.blogspot.com

9. St. Dwynwen’s Day, Wales

On St. Dwynwen’s Day, which falls every year on Jan. 25, the Welsh hearken back to ancient lore to celebrate love and affection. Princess Dwynwen fell in love with young Maelon, but they weren’t able to be together. Furious, Dwynwen fled into the woods and was given a potion by faeries that turned Maelon into an eternal block of ice (chill out, man!). Unrequited love is now celebrated by spoon carving. Men carve beautiful, meaningful designs on wooden spoons and bestow them to their ladies.

Source: todayifoundout.com

Thinkstock
Thinkstock

10. United States

Interesting fact: Expressions of love are common among immigrant couples who have lived in the U.S. a while. Non-native speakers of English use the phrase “I love you” more than the same phrase in the language of their respective homelands. Since America is a land of immigrants and their subsequent generations, it seems we’ve done a great job of cultivating affection as a melting pot of the world’s citizens! You know the drill — candy, chocolates, dinner for two, children exchanging Valentines. If you’re single, you’re still surrounded by love, so use that day and all of the others to pay it forward.

Source: dosomething.org