Valentine´s Day around the world
February 14th is Valentine´s Day. Although it is celebrated as lover´s holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers, or others gifts between couples in love, it originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.
In the United States and Canada, children exchange valentines with their friends. In some schools, the children told a classroom party and put all the valentines into a box they have decorated. At the end of the day, the teacher or one child distributes the cards. Many children make their own valentines from paper doilies, red paper, wallpaper samples, and pictures cut from magazines. Sometimes they buy kits that include everything needed to make valentines. Many children send their largest, fanciest cards to their parents and teachers.
Older students hold Valentine´s Day dances and parties. They make candy baskets, gifts, and place cards trimmed with hearts and fat, winged children called cupids. Many people send flowers, a box of candy, or some other gift to their wives, husbands, or sweethearts. Most valentine candy boxes are heart-shaped and tied with red ribbon.
In Europe, people celebrate Valentine´s Day in many ways. British children sing special Valentine´s Day songs and receive gifts of candy, fruit, or money. In some areas of England, people bake valentine buns with caraway seeds, plums, or raisins. People in Italy hold a Valentine´s Day feast.
In Britain and Italy, some unmarried women get up before sunrise on Valentine´s Day. They stand by the window watching for a man to pass. They believe that the first man they see, or someone who looks like him, will marry them within a year.
In Denmark, people send pressed white flowers called snwdrops to their friends. Danish men also send a type of valentine called a gaekkebrev (joking letter). The sender writes a rhyme but does no sign his name. Instead, he signs the valentine with dots, one dot for each letter of his name. If the woman who gets it guesses his name, he rewards her with an Easter egg on Easter. Some people in Great Britain also send valentines signed with dots.
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