Do they celebrate Valentine's Day outside the U.S.?

[abigailnus <abigailnus@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Haggridd <jkusalavagemd at y...>" <jkusalavagemd at y...> wrote:
> Does anyone know whether Valentine's Day is celebrated anywhere else 
> other than the U.S.?  A Russian friend told me that is was not 
> celebrated in Russia, but March 8th, International Woman's Day, was a 
> big holiday there.  I was wondering about other countries.
> 
> Haggridd

Here in Israel, people recognise Valentine's Day and celebrate it 
- to the extent that you might go out with your bf/gf or buy them 
a present.  I haven't seen much of the merchandise - heart-shaped 
chocolate boxes, etc., but I'm sure that'll come with time.  It's 
actually funny because there's a date on the Jewish calendar 
(sometime around July or August - it moves around because the 
Jewish calendar is lunar) that's supposed to be "Love Day" for 
reasons that have never been made clear to me.  So we actually 
have two Valentine's Days.

The way I see it, Valentine's Day is infectious.  It's a made-up 
holiday to begin with, right?  But in every country that becomes 
aware of its existance (and with the proliferation of American media 
that's a lot of countries) people feel obligated to celebrate it.  Even 
if they personally feel that it's a meaningless holiday with absolutely 
no tie to their cultural heritage,  their SO might feel unloved, or worse, 
they could be seen as a bitter single person.

It's actually a rather clever scheme, when you think about it.

Abigail
Non-bitter single person (I hope)