Not-So-Romantic Day (9/14)

Not-So-Romantic Day

Hi everybody, Mary here.

So, here's the ninth episode in the Fourteen Days Before The Fourteenth Challenge, with another little cute message, for my fellow aro-spec friends.

It's about not understanding Valentine's Day.

When you're in the aro-spectrum, and feeling variant to no romantic attraction, you might think that this day is completely pointless and that it's just a marketing ploy concieved by chocolate and roses sellers in order to have a peak of sales during the month of February.

And while you might be right to a certain extent, I just wanted to tell you that it's okay not to understand this day, even if it seems very important to other people.

Some people feel the need to celebrate a day of love during which people exchange love presents, such as chocolate and roses. But here are a few things that you should consider while complaining about Valentine's Day :

1. For Ghana, Valentine's Day is also National Chocolate Day. Since they are the biggest exportator in chocolate, they celebrate with chocolate.
2. In Japan, gender roles are reversed for the day, and women are supposed to give men chocolate boxes. Men could then reverse the thing on May 14^th, with white chocolate, on a day called « White Day »
3. In the Philippines, many marriages are celebrated on this day.
4. In South Africa, people pin the name of their lover on their shoulder.

And not every country celebrates Valentine's Day romantically ! Here are a few countries who do it differently :

1. In Guatemala, they call the day El Dìa Del Cariño, where affection for family and friends is as important as romantic love.
2. In Estonia, Valentine's Day is called « Friend's Day », so that single people aren't singled out of the festivities. But if you still want romance, there are « love buses » for the day !

You can read this article on which I based this post here : http://www.ibtimes.com/valentines-traditions-around-world-2015-how-they-celebrate-ghana-japan-estonia-other-1814682

Please tell me how you celebrate Valentine's Day across the world ! In France, it's the classic chocolate & roses, but please tell me if you celebrate it differently ! I'll add a little post-scriptum here !

*Speaking of which, there was the « rose-giving time » yesterday in class and I seriously wanted to puke. What a bunch of over-romantic losers, buying roses for silly messages to give to friends according to popularity in the class...*

And remember... you can still celebrate platonic love for your friends, family and other loved ones on Valentine's Day ! After all, it's the day of love, of ALL love ! So don't beat yourself up if you don't understand the Westernised, romanticised, overall glammy version of the day !

(try hosting a friendly version with your other single/aro friends hahaha !!!)

Okay, that's it for today ! I really hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you tomorrow for the next post in the series !

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !!!