In the US, people show their love by sending flowers, boxes of chocolate, and those little candy hearts with words on them. But in other countries, it’s a little more complicated – there are strange customs, superstitions, and they’re fascinating. The type of chocolate dictates your relationship with someone in one country, and in yet another it marks the start of an agricultural season. Read on for some truly surprising but romantic traditions all around the world.
1. Denmark
In Denmark, instead of red roses, friends and lovers exchange pressed white flowers called snowdrops instead. Men also give women a ‘gaekkebrev’ which is a “joking letter” which consists of a funny rhyme or poem written on intricately cut paper and signs with anonymous dots. If the receiver can guess the sender correctly, she gets an Easter egg later that year.
2. Slovenia
In Slovenia, February 14th is the first day of working the fields. St. Valentine is one of their patron saints of spring, and so it’s an auspicious day to start working in vineyards and fields, since usually it’s around this time in the season that plants and flowers start to be revived. People also believe that birds in the fields ppropose to their lovers and also get married on the day (aka, it’s really mating season.)