Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and in some countries, it might already be Valentine’s Day. But how are different countries celebrating this day of love? There are actually a few differences depending on which country you live in and in this article I will tell you the differences of the Valentine’s Day celebrations in the USA, Brazil, Japan, UK and Sweden.
In the United States of America, Valentine’s Day is widely celebrated over the entire country. Around 190 million Valentine’s Day card are sent yearly in the states and in 2017 around $18.2 billion was spend on Valentine’s Day. “Sweethearts” is a popular Valentine’s day candy in the USA, it’s small sugar candies with messages such as “Be Mine”, “Kiss me” and “Miss you” on them. Even though Valentine’s Day is a popular day in USA, lately the population has declined and it seems like it will continue to decline even more over the upcoming years.
In Brazil they celebrate “Dia dos Namorados” which would be translated to “Lovers’ Day” but they celebrate it on June 12th which is the day before Saint Anthony’s Day which is the marriage saint. They don’t celebrate the 14th February Valentine’s Day at all due to the Carnival of Brazil being too close to it. Single women in Brazil usually perform a popular ritual on “Lovers’ Day” called “simpatias”, in order to find a good husband or boyfriend. Couples usually buy each other gifts such as chocolate, flowers and cards.
Valentine’s Day in Japan has its origin in an advertisment campaign by a company called Morozoff Ltd from 1936 and later on in 1953 the same company started producing heart-shaped chocolates and other candy companies in Japan soon followed after. In Japan however, it’s usually women who gives chocolate to men which actually is believed to origin from a translation error during the advertisment campaigns. Giving gifts such as cards, flowers and dinner dates is very uncommon in Japan, instead they’re focusing on giving enough chocolate to a loved one. In the 1980s another campaign was launched on March 14th which was supposed to be a “reply day”, it’s a day men return the favor of those who gifted them chocolate on February 14th. The official name of March 14th is “White Day” since it’s mostly white chocolate that is being gifted that day.
As most countries, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th in the United Kingdom with an exception of Wales where some celebrate Saint Dwynwen’s Day, the Welsh patron saint of love, on January 25th. Around £1.3 billion is spent on cards, flowers, chocolate and other gifts yearly and around 25 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent.
In Sweden Valentine’s Day, or in Swedish “Alla hjärtans dag” which would be directly translated as “All hearts day”, is celebrated on February 14th. Valentine’s Day is not widely celebrated in Sweden and in a survey that was done in 2016 it was revealed that less than 50% were planning on buying gifts to their partners on Valentine’s Day. Those who buy gifts usually buys chocolate, flowers and cards to their partners. Valentine’s Day was first introduced in Sweden around the 1960s.
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