How We Celebrate Valentine's Day In Australia??? Really???

[darklotus1211]

I stumbled across this great, steaming pile of horse dung on the net today.

The celebration of Valentine's Day is actually a fairly recent thing in Australia. When I was a child it certainly had very little influence and even as a teen it usually came and went with very little hurrah. If you had a particularly soppy boyfriend who was influenced by US culture, you may have gotten a card and I suppose a few couples used it as an excuse to have a low key dinner or something. Basically, it really wasn't a big thing at all.

As an example, my ex and I first went out on 14th of February and it wasn't until years later we realised it had been on Valentine's Day. It's really only been in fairly recent times, mainly amongst the younger generations that media, targeted advertising and marketing have managed to get their greasy mitts on that it's caught on.

Schoolkids didn't, and still don't, make valentines at school to be given to classmates as a class activity. To my mind, putting less popular kids in a position to be humiliated and have their self esteem knocked down by not getting any from classmates is a terribly cruel and unfitting thing for a classroom environment. I, for one, don't know what US schools are thinking to put children in this position. School politics amongst kids can be hard enough without those in authority contributing to it. Apart from some private schools (and only a few of those), we tend to have a much more egalitarian and much less dog eat dog environment in schools over here.

Anyway, here's the piece of rubbish with any comments by me in italics. If you come to Australia over Valentine's Day at any time, PLEASE don't follow any of these so-called 'traditions'... you'll either be laughed at, strung up by the heels, be charged with sexual harassment in the workplace, or classed as decidedly creepy and strange.

Valentine's Traditions In Australia

Love, the four letter magical word that gets our head spinning and heart racing, is one feeling that binds people together, irrespective of all differences. It is the king of all emotions, the most wonderful sentiment known to man. It is ubiquitous. It has no nationality, religion, cast, creed or any other discrimination, for that matter. Valentine's Day is a propitious day for the lovers worldwide. Even so, there is nonconformity in the way people observe this occasion all across the globe. In Australia, which happens to be one of the most romantic countries in the world, Valentine's Day is indeed a big thing. The Aussies celebrate this day with great zest. Valentine's Day in Australia, is not just meant for the lovers alone, but is also considered as an occasion to strengthen love and affection between family members, friends, colleagues and neighbors. Flowers and cards make for the most popular V-day gifts in this part of the globe. Australians celebrate this day with carnivals, theatre festivals, etc. Learn more about the Valentine's Day traditions and customs in Australia in the section below.

Send a Valentine to a colleague over here and you're likely to be thought of as rather creepy at the very least, unless you have a very friendly and relaxed relationship with workmates (and a very relaxed admin) or do it in a humorous manner as a joke. Same goes for neighbours in general. Mums would most probably like a bunch of flowers on Valentines, but then, they'd appreciate them anytime! If I sent a Valentine to any of my family (apart from my Mum when she was alive), they'd think I'd lost my marbles! Mother's Day (to my older rellies or ones that were new mums) yes, birthdays, yes...Valentines? Definitely not!

• The Australians love to do everything in style, and love is no exception! Aussies celebrate their V-day with much pomp and warmth. Apart from lavishing their beloveds with gifts and flowers, the Australians mark this day by giving away extravagantly designed Valentine's Day cards to their sweethearts. The tradition of exchanging cards apparently traces back its origin to the gold rush in the Ballarat Mine in Victoria that occurred sometime during the mid-nineteenth century. Due to the surge in the status and wealth of the miners, it became a tradition for them to lavish their beloveds with extravagant cards, intricately designed and beautifully wrapped.

Pomp??? Extravagantly designed Valentine's??? Is the author of this on crack??? I'll tell you now, the proportion of Aussie men or women, gay or straight, who would take the time to make a Valentine, let alone an extravagantly designed one, would be minuscule!  Most Aussie women would be creeped out if their men folk did and vice versa! The possible exception would be if the person were of an artistic bent and made a quirky or comedic one, done in a tongue-in-cheek vein. Buying one of those teddy bears with a 'Be my Valentine' or 'I love you' on it  (shudder!) among teens and the particularly wet, yeah - a bunch of flowers, box of choccies, and a bought card, maybe.  As to the tradition during the gold rush - personally, I've never heard of this before - any historians out there? Not saying it's not possible, but I've only heard of this now.

• Did you know that Australian men are more romantic than their female counterparts? An interesting statistic figure states that 58% of men splurge on buying greetings card everywhere as opposed to a thin percentage of just 41% women.

Well, my thinking on this is that men in general tend to be romantics more than women are. They have a tendency to think that love is the universal band-aid, hence the tendency of more than a few of them to not work at relationships once they feel secure and to blame their partners because life in general hasn't dramatically improved for them now they're in love. Women, in general, are more pragmatic (I stress women, not girls) and realise that relationships are constant works in progress and that being in love is not a cure-all. It's also a once-a-year gesture, and an easy one at that - much harder to actually do work on a relationship on a more regular basis. Please note that I said more than a few men, not all men here.

• Valentine's Day in Australia is the day of the young hearts. A study reveals that 90% of people aged between 18-24 years celebrate Valentine's Day with much zeal then those aged over 50.

This sounds about right, actually. Like I said earlier, it's a fairly recent thing over here.

• In the contemporary times, sending lovey-dovey emails and e-cards have become the trend. The best part about these online cards is that they are hassle-free, easy to send and often leaves you spoilt for choice with their wide range of availability. The Australians apparently happens to be one of the biggest nations that bet on e-media to express their love.

Once again, sounds about right. We may have crappy internet over here but Aussies use it an awful lot. Besides, free, easy and pretty much instant - perfect for romantic lazy-bones!

Since time immemorial, flowers have been the best means of expressing love, and the Aussies too seem to count a lot on flower power when it comes to showing their sentiments. Just like rest of the world, flowers occupy a central position among V-Day gifts in Australia. So, go ahead and splurge on beautiful February blooms and express your love in a never-before kind of a way.

Or pick up a bunch at the local supermarket or convenience store - it's easy, but hey, at least it shows you're thinking of them! Better yet, do it every now and then for NO reason, other than you think they'd like them - personally, I think that means a lot more.

Valentine's Day in Australia is indeed a big affair. On this day, lovers come together to express the strongest of all emotions - love.

For those of you in the UK, the same site has one on British traditions on Valentine's Day as well:

http://www.indobase.com/holidays/valentines-day/valentines-day-traditions/valentines-traditions-in-uk.html

(hint: one part has Brits writing poems about St Valentine @@)

I'd be interested to know if yours is as full of bulldust as the Aussie one was!