Ignacio Cargioli Vila boarded the city bus without hesitation. The bus was packed with, among other things, chickens and watermelons. Vila was not going for a quick ride; the journey ahead of him would take 15 hours. The bus would wind through Chile’s country roads, making stops from one small town to the next. Vila plopped down in his seat with flowers in hand and waited for the long trip to begin.
Vila, an international graduate student from Chile, was planning to surprise his girlfriend with flowers on Lover’s Day, or Valentine’s Day in the United States.
“”I was on the bus for 15 hours with flowers, but I almost arrived with a chicken,”” Vila said.
Vila’s earnest attempt demonstrates that Valentine’s Day is a day of opportunities for individuals to prove their love to one another, no matter the country observing the holiday.
In Japan, women take the initiative to celebrate Valentine’s Day by expressing their love to their significant others through gifts, often ones of handmade chocolate.
“”On Valentine’s Day guys take no action, we just wait to receive the chocolate,”” said Shuhei Mitoma, a Eleanor Roosevelt College junior international student.
Another type of gift-giving tradition observed on Valentine’s Day in Japan is known as giri (obligation) choco (chocolate). Giri-choco requires women to buy chocolates for all of their male acquaintances.
“”Valentine’s Day is a day girls give chocolate to boys, so the number of chocolates you get equals how popular you are,”” said Ryohei Tamura, an international graduate student from Japan. “”When I was in college, I got five chocolates one year, then I went home to compare the number of chocolates [I had] with my dad and grandfather’s [chocolates]. My grandpa was the winner, although he was over 75 [years old].””
After receiving the chocolates, men return gifts to women on March 14, which is known in Japan as “”White Day.””
“”On White Day men give white chocolates, marshmallows and candies to women,”” said Noriyuki Nishimura, a post-doctoral researcher for the UCSD Division of Biological Sciences, who has been in the United States for one year. “”Sometimes, men give special presents, such as accessories including rings and silvers.””
Therefore, on White Day men are pressured to reciprocate if they received gifts or chocolates on Feb. 14 from their loved ones. But if it is a giri-choco gift exchange, men can often avoid pressure and expectation.
“”If it’s giri-choco then the boss gives chocolates, handkerchiefs or candy, something not that expensive,”” said Chiaki Kamitani, an Eleanor Roosevelt College junior international student from Japan. “”If it’s giri-choco it’s okay if you don’t give back a gift, if it’s not giri-choco girls will be very disappointed.””
Dongyul Sung, a post-doctoral researcher for the UCSD Division of Biological Sciences, who is a citizen of South Korean, where Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the same fashion as in Japan, was a victim of the White Day pressure through his own doing.
“”I got a lot of chocolates [on Valentine’s Day] from many girls that I knew when I was a high school senior, including my girlfriend,”” Sung said. “”On the White Day, which is exactly a month after the Valentine’s Day, I gave candies to every girl who gave me chocolate except for my girlfriend, just to tease her. Of course, I had to spend the next several days to ease her anger and ask for her forgiveness, but I have to admit it was fun.””
The Chinese also split their Valentine’s Day celebration between two days.
“”There are two types of Valentine’s Day in China,”” said Grace Hua, a Thurgood Marshall College freshman, who was born in China. “”First there’s the Western one where the boyfriend and girlfriend go out and eat dinner and watch a movie. Then the guys will get her flowers and the girls will get the guy handmade chocolates in her own unique wrapping.””
The traditional Chinese Valentine’s Day is celebrated on July 7, the seventh lunar month. The traditional celebration is based on the love story between the seventh daughter of Heaven and an orphaned cow herder. The emperor, in an attempt to separate the lovers, sent the seventh daughter to the Star of Vega and the cow herder to the Star of Altair. The lovers were only allowed to see each other once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month by crossing the Milky Way.
“”On the seventh of July, instead of hanging out together, the guys bring the girls to meet their families to illustrate their commitment and compassion to one another, and that’s how they celebrate that day,”” Hua said.
Valentine’s Day is a festival that is embraced by different cultures around the world, yet the expressions of love among cultures remain relatively the same. Across the globe, Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers to demonstrate their devotion and affection for one another. Although most common global Valentine’s Day traditions include gifts of chocolates and flowers, special and unexpected acts of love prove to be the most endearing.
