Ystävänpäivää

The 14th of February is a special date in so many countries in the world. Most common name is “St. Valentine’s Day”, and it is a celebration that was born in Rome in the 3^rd Century.

Nowadays, it is considered as a day for lovers in countries like Spain, where so many couples meet and give presents each other in that day, like roses or chocolate. In Spain it is not a tradition, but so many people do it because it is a beautiful day.

However, here I discovered that this day is not celebrated in the same way in all the countries. For example, in countries where the main religion is Islam, there is not allowed to celebrate this day. One girl of Somalia explained me that for them, love has to be showed every day, and they can’t celebrate this day, birthdays, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, their religion doesn’t let them and she says that is normal. On the other hand, they celebrate the day when the prophet was born. It is so curious! Then, I spoke with a girl from Morocco and she said that for example their family celebrates birthdays and festivities like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, it depends if the family is more or less religious. But St Valentine’s Day is not allowed either.

In Finland, the name of this day is “Ystäväpäivää”, that means “Friend´s Day”. It is so beautiful! Everybody hugs each other and give presents to their friends. They spend time together; they have lunch in special places with their family and have fun together. I think it is more beautiful that Spanish tradition. You must love everybody is around you, not only your couple!

In Daisy Ladies, where I’m doing practice, we did a beautiful activity this day: we draw a heart in a piece of paper and then we write our name outside. Then, we gave it to another person and she had to write something positive about you, in her own language. It is so beautiful! Now, I have a pink heart full of positive adjectives written by beautiful people.