Valentine’s Day Customs Around The World

There is great variability in how people around the Western world celebrate February 14th, the day that celebrates love. History records that Valentine’s Day has been celebrated since the early 1400s, with the first valentine being sent out by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife from inside his cell in the Tower of London.

Let’s take a look at how each corner of the earth celebrates Valentine’s Day.

The United States and Canada
In North America, Valentine’s Day is celebrated by every individual. School children will create Valentine’s Day cards that they hand out to classmates, friends, teachers, parents and other family members on February 14th. Valentines, as these cards are named, are either handmade or can be purchased ready made. Couples celebrate Valentine’s Day as a testament to their love, exchanging cards, flowers and other gifts. Individuals all throughout North America send out valentines to friends and family.

A European Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day customs in Europe are as unique as the European countries themselves. In Italy and Britain, single women wake up before sunrise and stand watching at their window for a man to pass by. According to custom, that man or a man who looks like him will marry the woman within the following year. Italians also hold a Valentine’s Day feast, while the British bake valentine’s buns containing plums, raisins or caraway seeds.

In Denmark, individuals send cards with pressed Snowdrops, a type of flower, to each other. Men also send valentine’s cards, called gaekkebrev, to others. These are joke letters that the men do not sign their names to. Instead, they sign with a number of dots, counting one dot for each letter of the man’s name. If a female receiver of the gaekkebrev guesses the name correctly, the male sender of the letter sends her an Easter egg on Easter.

Everyone at itsamomsworld wishes you the happiest Valentine’s Day, whichever Valentine's Day customs you follow!