Famous festivals of love around the world, from Valentine’s Day to the Qixi Festival
- Saint Dwynwen’s Day in Wales and Dragobete in Romania are other holidays that celebrate love
- You don’t have to wait for a certain day; you can show people you love them all the time!
You might be most familiar with Valentine's Day, but there's many other holidays that celebrate love.We’re all familiar with Valentine’s Day – chocolates, teddy bears and roses galore. But we’re probably less versed with Saint Valentine himself. He was a bishop in the Roman Empire who was executed in 269AD for refusing to deny the existence of Christ after being ordered to do so by Emperor Claudius.
He was buried on February 14, and it was only in the 14th century that writer and poet Geoffrey Chaucer “invented” the tradition of Valentine’s Day in his poem, A Parliament of Fowls.
He describes how birds gathered on that day to choose their partners for the year, and so associated the day with love.
Here are some other figures and legends that are connected to love, and how people celebrate them around the world.
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January 25 – St Dwynwen’s Day
Saint Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of love, but who was she before that? She’s believed to have been the daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog, and lived during the fifth century. She fell in love with a neighbouring King’s son, Maleon Dafodrill, but their love wasn’t meant to be.
Some say Dwynwen’s father objected to the relationship because she was betrothed to another, while others say she wanted to become a nun.
Either way, she wanted to forget about Maleon, and an angel came down with a potion to do just that but it turned the prince to ice. She prayed for three things – for Maleon to be thawed, for true love to be protected in her name, and to never fall in love again.
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She went on to become a nun and set up churches for those who had troubled relationships.
Llanddwyn Island, off the coast of Wales, is home to the remains of a church set up in her name.
St Dywnwen’s Day is celebrated much like Valentine’s Day, with special meals between loved ones and gifting decorative spoons as symbols of love. These spoons, carved from wood, have creative designs on the handle – the more intricate they are, the bigger the declaration of love.
The remains of St Dwynwen's Church on Llandwyn Island in Anglesey, Wales, UK.
February 24 – Dragobete
This is a traditional Romanian holiday celebrating Dragobete, the Guardian of Love. He’s also known as Dragomir, and was described as a half-human, half-angel of striking beauty. He was the son of Baba Dochia, an old woman in a myth who signifies the end of winter.
As February 24 is the day that birds create their nests, Dragobete symbolises the beginning of spring and is also known as the patron saint of birds.
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Traditionally, in the morning of the holiday, boys and girls go into the woods together and collect flowers. Around noon, the girls dash back to their homes. If a boy fancies a girl, he will try to catch her. If she is caught and she likes him, they seal their love with a kiss and this has led to a famous saying, “Dragobete kisses the girls”.
Today, Dragobete is not celebrated with material goods, but with personal displays of affection. It also includes single people, as tradition says that hugging at least one person you like will improve your love life.
April 23 – Saint George’s Day
The legend of Saint George’s Day is most popular in Catalonia, Spain, where the region of Montblanc was plagued by a dragon. The kingdom fed the dragon two lambs a day to satisfy its hunger, but when supplies grew scarce, they started sending people by drawing lots.
The townspeople were fed up that no Royal family members were being made into dragon grub and demanded that the princess at least be included in the lottery.
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A knight by the name of Jordi (George) rescued her by slaying the dragon with a sword. The dragon’s spilled blood transformed into a rose, which he gave to her. To thank him, the king offered Jordi all the riches he wanted, but he chose to distribute that wealth among the kingdom. A church was built in his name.
This holiday is celebrated by boys giving girls red roses to symbolise the death of the dragon. Girls reciprocate with books to commemorate the deaths of authors William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantas, who both died on April 23.
The Feast of St George is most popular in Spain, but is also celebrated in places like Britain.
August 14 – Qixi Festival
This day celebrates the legend of two lovers, Zhinu the weaver girl and Niulang the cowherd, and has been celebrated since the Han dynasty. The story goes that Zhinu and Niulang fell in love, but were not allowed to be together.
They were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River.
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Every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a flock of magpies gathered over the river to form a bridge and reunite the lovers for a day. You can look into the sky and see the story being told – Zhinu is the star Vega, Niulang is Altair and the river is the Milky Way separating them.
Traditions of this festival include girls showing their domestic skills, such as threading needles in the moonlight, as well as praying to Zhinu for wisdom and a good marital life. Qiaoguo, a fried thin pastry, is prepared and eaten during Qixi Festival in the belief that this would help the couple reunite on the magpie bridge.
Qixi Festival is often called Chinese Valentine's Day.