Skip to main content
Network Updates Planned | April 1
Richland Library logo
  • Events
  • Locations
  • Contact Us
Give

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Library Policies© 2023 Richland Library, Richland County, South Carolina
Richland Library logo
  • Events
  • Locations
  • Contact Us
Forgot your card number?
Forgot your PIN?
  • Reset your password

Get A Library Card

  • Print Documents
  • Reserve a Room
  • Social Work
  • Career Services
  • Community Resources
  • Library of Things
  • View All Services
  • Browse free online tools for researching and learning.
  • Most Popular
  • Articles, Journals & Newspapers
  • Books & Literature
  • Business & Careers
  • Children
  • En Español
  • Genealogy & Local History
  • View All Research Categories
  • Browse Staff Picks
  • Get a Recommendation
  • Read Our Blog
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Our Team
  • Locations
  • Our Work
  • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
  • Library Policies
  • Friends and Foundation
  • Contact Us

Breadcrumb

  • Home  
  • Blog  
  • Valentine's Day in Asia
BLOG

Valentine's Day in Asia

  • Zsuzsanna C.
  • Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Share:
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

In my previous Valentine’s Day Blog I wrote about celebrations around Europe. Now, I write about Asia.

Bangladesh

It is a fairly new holiday. Young people exchange SMS, give gifts, and look colorful and festive. Women usually wear red dresses, and couples  go to a restaurant.

China

If you get a chance, you should definitely check out the festival of the Miao people in southwestern China. The “Sisters’ Meal” festival is celebrated on the 15th of March and usually lasts for three days.  Miao girls collect fresh wildflowers and leaves from the mountains to produce natural colorings in order to dye glutinous rice, known as "sisters' rice". Steamed rice is dyed blue, pink, yellow, and white to represent spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Women wear attractive sterling silver dresses, silver headdresses, crows and silver neck rings. According to tradition, silver represents light, and it keeps the evil spirit far away. The elegant ethnic costumes can be an exotic fashion show. When the young men arrive, they begin to single out the young women they hope to marry someday and begin to sing to them. Women and men sing to each other. When the men or the woman can't answer the questions by singing, they lose and should give the gifts to the winner. Other activities are bullfighting, horse racing, and traditional Miao performances with lusheng, a reed-pipe with multiple bamboo pipes mimicking voices. 

The Chinese Valentine’s Day or Qixi Festival is based on romantic legend about weaver girl and an ox herd. This year Qixi Festival will be on August 4. 

Ladies were forbidden to go out in ancient China, except during the Lantern Festival. They went out to appreciate the colorful lantern exhibitions, and possibly for a date. The Lantern Festival was like a Chinese Valentine's Day in the past. Lantern Festival is on February 15 this year.

Iran

Valentine’s Day is hugely popular in Iran. Iran banned the sale of any goods related to Valentine’s Day in 2011 as it was considered a symbol of Western culture. 

Iraq

In February, the streets of Bagdad are full of red balloons and red teddy bears. Kurds believe they can preserve the love with apple and clove.

Japan

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 14th February by women buying gifts and chocolates for their male companions or lovers. They make handmade chocolate or buy more expensive items for the ones whom they like more. Men will return gifts on March 14, which is called the “White Day”.

Korea

Valentine’s Day is not one but 12 days when the people celebrate love. On February 14, women give presents to men. There is much commercial advertisement of jewelry, lingerie and chocolate in this period. White Day is on March 14th. The men return with presents. The name came from the primarily white gifts, for example white chocolate. This is slowly changing for other shades of gifts. Black Day is April 14; this is for singles. The name come from eating black noodles. Much less advertisement is going on related to that. They have the other love days as well. Diary Day in in January, Rose Day in May, Kiss Day in June, Silver Day in July, Green Day in August, Photo Day in September, Wine Day in October, Movie Day in November, and Hug Day in December.

Nepal

Valentine’s Day is called Prem Diwas or Pranaya Diwas in Nepali. Valentine Day was not traditionally celebrated. Now it is very popular with the young generation. They celebrate with roses, chocolate and teddy bears.

The Philippines

On Valentine’s Day, sometimes hundreds maybe thousands of couples are married in a government sponsored event. This is the biggest and most commercialized holiday in the country, the most amazing holiday for young people.

Families of China

Families of China

Published in 2005
Follows a day in the lives of two young children and their families in China.
Find
DVD
 
Families of Korea

Families of Korea

Published in 2005
Follows a day in the lives of two young children and their families in Korea.
Find
DVD
 
Fire Road

Fire Road

The Napalm Girl's Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace
Kim Phúc, 1963- author.
Published in 2017
"Get out! Run! We must leave this place! They are going to destroy this whole place! Go, children, run first! Go now! These were the final shouts nine year-old Kim Phuc heard before her world dissolved into flames--before napalm bombs fell from the sky, burning away her clothing and searing deep into her skin. It's a moment forever captured, an iconic image that has come to define the horror and violence of the Vietnam War. Kim was left for dead in a morgue; no one expected her to survive the attack. Napalm meant fire, and fire meant death. Against all odds, Kim lived--but her journey toward healing was only beginning. When the napalm bombs dropped, everything Kim knew and relied on exploded along with them: her home, her country's freedom, her childhood innocence and happiness. The coming years would be marked by excruciating treatments for her burns and unrelenting physical pain throughout her body, which were constant reminders of that terrible day. Kim survived the pain of her body ablaze, but how could she possibly survive the pain of her devastated soul? Fire Road is the true story of how she found the answer in a God who suffered Himself; a Savior who truly understood and cared about the depths of her pain. Fire Road is a story of horror and hope, a harrowing tale of a life changed in an instant--and the power and resilience that can only be found in the power of God's mercy and love."--Provided by publisher.
Find
Book
 
Korea, Land of the Morning Calm

Korea, Land of the Morning Calm

Lee, Chong-Sik, 1931-
Find
Book
 
China

China

McCulloch, Julie, 1973-
Published in 2001
Find
Book
 
Philippines

Philippines

Mildenstein, Tammy, 1968-
Published in 2005
Find
Book
 
Japan

Japan

Norbury, Paul.
Published in 2006
Find
Book
 
The Philippines

The Philippines

Oleksy, Walter G., 1930-
Published in 2015
Find
Book
 
China

China

Pelleschi, Andrea, 1962-
Published in 2012
Provides information about China, with emphasis on its geography, culture, history, economy, and government.
Find
Book
 
A Traveller's History of Japan

A Traveller's History of Japan

Tames, Richard.
Published in 2002
Find
Book
 
China

China

Wall, Alan.
Published in 2004
Find
Book
 
Author

Zsuzsanna C.

Associate

Tags
Education
Geography
Holidays
Audience
Adults
Parents
Seniors
Teens (12-18 years)
 1765

Related Blog Posts

Image
Cover of youth titles that are releasing in April 2023
Blog
Diverse Youth Titles: April Releases 2023
Image
photo: St Andrew's Cross (a 4-petaled yellow flower on a long stem with thin green leaves) - a member of the St John's Wort family
Blog
Pollinator Gardening with Native Plants
Image
Girl in hat putting together LED Flash Light
Blog
First Steps to the Library: Learning is Never Far Away

Footer Menu

  • About
  • Work With Us
  • Blog
Library Policies© 2023 Richland Library, Richland County, South Carolina
Give

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn