Friday, February 19, 2016

Germans who had Guts to Fight Nazis

73 years ago, February 18, 1943 Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, the leaders of the German youth group Weisse Rose (White Rose), were arrested by the Gestapo for opposing the Nazi regime.

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The White Rose

In the early summer of 1942, a group of young men — including Willi Graf, Christoph Probst and Hans Schol formed a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, which called for active opposition to the Nazis regime.

The group co-authored six anti-Nazi Third Reich political resistance leaflets. Calling themselves the White Rose, they instructed Germans to passively resist the Nazis. They had been horrified by the behavior of the Germans on the Eastern Front where they had witnessed a group of naked Jews being shot in a pit.

The core of the White Rose consisted of five students — Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Christoph Probst, all in their early twenties — also members were Hans and Sophie's sister Inge Scholl, and a professor of philosophy, Kurt Huber.

Between June 1942 and February 1943, they prepared and distributed six different leaflets, in which they called for the active opposition of the German people to Nazi oppression and tyranny. Huber drafted the final two leaflets. A draft of a seventh leaflet, written by Christoph Probst, was found in the possession of Hans Scholl at the time of his arrest by the Gestapo, who destroyed it.

The Leaflets

During early summer of 1942, Alex Schmorell and Hans Scholl wrote four leaflets, copied them on a typewriter with as many copies as could be made, probably not exceeding 100, and distributed them throughout Germany. These leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution. All four were written in a relatively brief period, between June 27 and July 12. As far as is known today, Hans Scholl wrote the first and fourth leaflets, Alex Schmorell participated with the second and third.

All leaflets were also sent to the members of the White Rose, in order that we could check whether they were intercepted. Significantly, of the first 100 leaflets, 35 were turned over to the Gestapo.

By turning the leaflets over to the secret police, one hoped to be beyond suspicion. It might even have entered one's mind - and it certainly would not have been unthinkable - that such leaflets could have actually been produced and mailed by the Gestapo in order to test one's loyalty to the party and state.

Producing and distributing such leaflets sounds simple from today's perspective, but, in reality, it was not only very difficult but even dangerous. Paper was scarce, as were envelopes. And if one bought them in large quantities, or for that matter, more than just a few postage stamps (in any larger numbers), one would (have) become instantly suspect.

Taking leaflets to other cities carried great risk, because trains were constantly patrolled by military police, who demanded identification papers of any male of military service age. Anyone traveling without official marching papers was AWOL - and the consequences predictable.

"Some of us traveled in civilian clothing, hoping for the best, some with forged travel orders, I myself used false identification papers (my cousin's with whom I shared a certain resemblance). We left the briefcases which contained the leaflets in a different compartment, for luggage was routinely searched. Mostly, however, leaflets were taken by female students who were not subject to such scrutiny."

The members of The White Rose worked day and night, cranking a hand-operated duplicating machine thousands of times to create the leaflets which were each stuffed into envelopes, stamped and mailed from various major cities in Southern Germany. Recipients were chosen from telephone directories and were generally scholars, medics and pub-owners in order to confuse the Gestapo investigators.

While Hans and Alex alone drafted the first four leaflets, they counted on Christoph Probst to comment and criticize. Jürgen edited the third and fourth leaflets and traveled to Berlin with the dangerous documents. Willi contributed to the fifth leaflet and did a generous amount of legwork, getting supplies and trying to recruit support outside of Munich.

Sophie worked at getting stamps and paper (one could not buy too many stamps at one place without arousing suspicion) and also managed the group's funds. Kurt Huber contributed to the fifth leaflet and solely drafted the sixth (and final) leaflet, while Hans was apprehended with a rough draft of a seventh leaflet written by Christoph Probst.

All members traveled throughout Southern Germany (and beyond) to mail stacks of leaflets from undetectable locations. Hundreds of leaflets were also left at the University of Munich, carefully hand-delivered in the middle of the night.

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Arrest of the White Rose

On three nights in February 1943 (3rd, 8th and 15th), Hans, Alex and Willi conducted the most dangerous of all the White Rose activities. The three men used tar and paint to write slogans on the sides of houses on Ludwigstrasse, a main thoroughfare in Munich near the University. They wrote "Down With Hitler", "Hitler Mass Murderer", "freedom", and drew crossed-out swastikas... this while policemen and other officials patrolled the streets of Munich. It was, by far, the most public, blatant and dangerous of their activities.

On Thursday, February 18, 1943, Sophie and Hans distributed the pamphlets personally at the university. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they flooded out of lecture rooms. Leaving before the class break, the Scholls noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to distribute them.

They returned to the atrium and climbed the staircase to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This spontaneous action was observed by the custodian Jakob Schmid. The police were called and Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. The other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were brought in for interrogation.

Sophie and Hans were questioned for four days in Munich, and their trial was set for February 22. They, along with Christoph, were arrested. Within days, all three were brought before the People's Court in Berlin. The trial was run by Roland Freisler, head judge of the court, and lasted only a few hours, they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Only hours later, the court carried out that sentence by guillotine. All three faced their deaths bravely, Hans crying out his last words, "Long live freedom!"

Later that same year, other members of the White Rose -- Alexander Schmorell (age 25), Willi Graf (age 25), and Kurt Huber (age 49) -- were tried and executed. Most of the other students convicted for their part in the group's activities received prison sentences.

Prior to their deaths, several members of the White Rose believed that their execution would stir university students and other anti-war citizens into a rallying activism against Hitler and the war. Accounts suggest, however, that university students continued their studies as usual, citizens mentioned nothing, many regarding the movement as anti-national. Their actions were mostly dismissed, until after the war when their efforts were eventually praised by the German consciousness.

Moral examples

"They permit us to believe that at the time not all Germans were mute and cowardly followers," German President Joachim Gauck has said, referring to the importance of the Scholls and the White Rose. In its fourth pamphlet, the group wrote, "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!"

Their words, Gauck said, still apply today. Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends had the courage to stand up for their convictions and resist - showing a degree of courage possessed only by a few at that time.

”How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause,” Sophie Scholl said. ”Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go,” she continued, ”but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

”The White Rose is a radiant page in the annals of the 20th Century. The courage to swim against the stream of public opinion, even when doing so was equated with treason, and the conviction that death is not too great a price to pay for following the whisperings of the conscience,” writes Chris Zimmerman in The White Rose: Its Legacy and Challenge.

Sophie Scholls sister Inge Aicher-Scoll wrote: ”Perhaps genuine heroism lies in deciding to stubbornly defend the everyday things, the mundane and the immediate.”

Other Resistance Groups

The common, and mostly true, belief is that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ruled Germany with an iron fist, crushing any rebellion or dissent with swift fury. Even more valuable information is on the people who had courage to oppose the dictatorship. And the White Rose group not the only one. All the opposition groups were collectively known simply as “Widerstand” (“Resistance”). Let’s briefly mention the heroes:

However, there were a number of groups active in Germany that were trying to take down the Nazis.

1. Red Orchestra
This name applies to both Soviet and German espionage programs and the specific German one we’re discussing is the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group, which was created in 1936. Named after Harro Schulze-Boysen (the Luftwaffe staff officer who founded it) and his friends, one of their goals was to gather intelligence for the Allies and help those hunted by the Nazis to get to freedom. However, their primary goal was to incite civil disobedience by distributing a number of leaflets, as well as causing the Nazis grief through the specter of subversion groups. In 1942, after Gestapo agents intercepted some of their radio transmissions, nearly all of the members of the group were arrested and executed.

2. Kreisau Circle
Established and led by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, and Adam von Trott zu Solz, the Kreisau Circle was stationed at Moltke’s estate. Said to be one of the main centers of the German resistance movement, their goal was to figure out how to establish a peaceful, Christian Germany, after the war was lost. (For them, it was difficult to reconcile their hatred toward Hitler and the Nazis and their patriotic love for Germany.) The group was known for spreading information to the Allies, as well as other resistance groups within Germany. Later in the war, some of the members were involved in a failed assassination of Adolf Hitler, and many of the Kreisau Circle were arrested and executed, even those who had no part in the coup attempt.

3. The Rosenstrasse Protest
A singular event, perpetrated because of the deportation of thousands of Jewish men who were married to non-Jewish women, the Rosenstrasse protest was one of the largest public displays against Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. For over a week in early 1943, the women peacefully marched in protest against their husbands’ deportation. Seemingly faced with death each night at the hands of the guards they marched in front of, they persisted, until Hitler released the prisoners, even those already sent to Auschwitz. This was more out of concern for the secrecy of his “Final Solution” than anything else though. Because no one was punished, and almost all of the men survived the war, this incident provides one of the greatest “What if?” questions about the whole war: What if the rest of Germany had stood up to Hitler?

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4. The Solf Circle
The least successful of all the groups on this list, the Solf Circle was an informal group of intellectuals who were against Nazism. Established by Johanna Solf, the widow of a German ambassador, the group would routinely meet to discuss their plans to aid the Jews (Solf and her daughter helped hide a number of Jews and assisted their escape from the country). On September 10, 1943 at a birthday party for Elisabeth von Thadden (a famous Protestant headmistress at a nearby school), a secret Gestapo agent was unknowingly invited by one of the members and he reported their actions. Nearly everyone was rounded up, arrested, tried, and executed.

5. The European Union
Not to be confused with the collection of European countries today, the original European Union was a group of anti-fascist Germans who despised Nazism and what it had done to their country. Founded in Berlin in 1939, the group began under the leadership of Robert Havemann, a chemist, and Georg Groscurth, a doctor. The European Union produced many leaflets during the war, as well as providing aid and information to Allied Forces and those hunted by the Nazis. However, they never actively tried to take down the government because they felt it would collapse on its own. What they wanted to do was create a unified, socialist Europe. Paul Hatschek, one of the leading members, was captured by the Gestapo in 1943 and ratted out nearly every person in the group, with at least 15 of them being killed.

6. Johann George Elser
Normally a footnote in the history of Hitler and Nazism, Johann George Elser was one of many men who tried to assassinate Hitler. However, Elser is part of a select group of people who tried to do it alone. Every year, the Nazis would meet at the Beer Hall Putsch, to commemorate the failed overthrow of the German government that landed a younger Hitler in jail. Elser knew this and used it to his advantage. Ten months before Hitler was going to give his annual speech on November 8, 1939, Elser began scouting out the area. For months, Elser worked, hollowing out a stone pillar behind where Hitler would stand, so a bomb could be placed inside of it. He created a timer that would last for 144 hours and set it for 9:20 PM on November 8, right in the middle of Hitler’s speech. Unfortunately, Hitler changed his plans at the last minute because of weather problems and ended 30 minutes early, escaping unharmed. Elser was arrested and imprisoned until April 1945, when he was executed.

7. The Swing Kids
Mainly based in the city of Hamburg, the Swing Kids began as a counterculture group to Nazism. They were youth who enjoyed American swing music, something the Nazis detested. Though not very political at the beginning, the Swing Kids were said to have begun spreading the truth heard from the Allies to German citizens. In addition, many of the group members began to non-violently protest other aspects of Nazi rule, with some even going on to join other more political groups like the White Rose. After 1941, the Nazis began to crack down on the swing clubs, sending many of the children to concentration camps.

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8. The Edelweiss Pirates
Another group of ex-Hitler Youth, the Edelweiss Pirates began organizing right before the outbreak of World War II. Mostly comprised of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, they had no central leader and were only loosely affiliated with the groups in other cities—sometimes, the only common factor was the Edelweiss flower badge which they all wore. As the war dragged on, the Edelweiss Pirates performed increasingly dangerous tasks, including sabotage against German railways and aiding Jews fleeing from the Nazis. German reprisals were varied, depending on the severity of the crime, but many were sent to camps or prisons, with some even being executed. When the war ended, many of them disbanded, but a few continued, turning their attentions to the Allied troops who now occupied Germany.

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Thursday, February 11, 2016

How Valentine’s Day is Celebrated in 28 Countries around the World?


The Legend of St. Valentine




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Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival In February



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Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

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What would you do if your beloved gave you a wooden spoon on Valentine's Day?

Although you might be confused if you are used to chocolates in a heart-shaped box, if you happen to have grown up in Wales, that would be perfectly normal. Young men there typically present "love spoons" to their paramours, a tradition inspired by Welsh sailors creating homemade gifts for their sweethearts while at sea. The "love spoon" exchange, along with many other global Valentine's Day traditions, shows that old-fashioned romance is not dead.

Countries around the world have one-of-a-kind customs that range from Estonia's "love bus" rides for singles to mass weddings in the Philippines. While the actual practices can vary in date and target audience (some traditions specifically celebrate the singles among us!), citizens of many countries set aside time to commemorate some sort of commitment. In some places, the difference in approach to the day is even more stark, as public displays of love and affection are outright banned on February 14.

While you probably will not want to adopt all of the cultural customs highlighted below, read and consider those, which may refresh your romantic relationship, show your creative approach, and make this day unforgettable for your partner and yourself. Or, maybe, make up your own unique ritual to show your love and affection.

1.       USA
In the United States of America, there have been many varieties of cards given over the course of the years, some of which have often been rude or even quite cruel in their humor. In the times of the Civil War, cards were flagged with rich colors accompanied by patriotic and/or political motifs. Early American valentine cards were especially lithographed and hand-colored, beautiful and distinctive in design, produced with intricate lace paper and decorated with such ornaments as beads, sea shells, cones, berries and all manner of seeds. Cards were also available decorated with seaweed or moss, in addition to dried and/or artificial flowers, all of which were attached to a string which was pulled and could then be suspended, thereby creating a three-dimensional picture. Many early American cards were imported from abroad, given the poor quality of American paper at the time which was not particularly suitable for embossing. Today, American children usually exchange valentines with their friends and there may even be a classroom party.

2.       Canada
Valentine’s Day festival is celebrated with much enthusiasm in Canada. Valentine's Day balls and parties are organized all over the country where people express love for their spouses and sweethearts and enjoy to the hilt. Roses, chocolates, candies and cards are the most popular gifts for the romantic occasion. As a tradition, children in Canada exchange Valentine's Day gifts with their friends. In several schools, classroom Valentine's Day Parties are organized where children put all the valentines in a decorated box. Later, teacher or a child distributes the cards. Kids are encouraged to prepare handmade valentine. Many children also gift fancy Valentine’s Day card to parents and teachers. Songs, skits, plays and concerts are also organized by schools and societies to celebrate Valentine's Day. Students in senior school hold Valentine's Day dance parties to cherish the joyful festival.

3.       United Kingdom
The aura of mystery is alive and well on Valentine's Day in the U.K. In a tradition dating back to the Victorian era, Brits traditionally send anonymous valentines to their romantic interests. The Victorians believed signing your name on the card was considered bad luck. The U.K. also claims responsibility for starting the practice of giving roses on Valentine's Day, since that flower was traditionally seen as the favorite of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

4.       Australia
During the Australian gold rush period, miners who were suddenly in possession of money from the new-found wealth of the Ballarat Mines were willing to pay a princely sum for elaborate valentines and merchants in the country would ship orders amounting to thousands of pounds at a time. The most extravagant Australian valentines were made of a satin cushion, perfumed and decorated in an ornate manner with flowers and colored shells. Some might even be adorned with a taxidermied humming bird or bird of paradise. This treasure, contained within a neatly decorated box, was highly valued, being both fashionable and extremely expensive.

5.       Wales
So it's not technically a Valentine's Day tradition, but rather than professing their love on February 14, the Welsh celebrate St. Dwynwen's Day on January 25. Wales Online explains that St. Dwynwen is the "Welsh patron saint of lovers" and men traditionally give women hand-carved wooden spoons as a romantic gesture. The custom is thought to have originated when Welsh sailors carved designs into wooden spoons while at sea to bring back to the women at home.

6.       Scotland
In Scotland, Valentine's Day is celebrated with a festival. At this festival, there is an equal number of unmarried males and females, each of whom write their name (or a made-up name) on a piece of paper which is then folded and placed into a hat for the ladies and one for the men. The females then draw a name from the hat containing the men's names and vice versa. Of course, it is highly likely that the two drawn names will not match, in which event, it is usually expected that the male partner with the female who selected his name. This rite having been completed, the company split up into couples and gifts are given to the ladies. The females would then pin the name of their partner over their hearts or on their sleeves. A dance often follows and, at the end of the festival, it is not unusual for marriages to take place. According to another Scottish custom, the first young man or woman encountered by chance on the street or elsewhere will become that individual's valentine. Valentine's Day gifts in Scotland are frequently given by both parties in the form of a love-token or true-love-knot.

7.       Germany
In Germany, it has become customary for the young man of a courting couple to present his beloved with flowers on February 14. Valentine gifts in Germany are usually in the shape of love tokens, complete with endearing messages. However, these are not distributed solely on Valentine's Day, but on any occasion. Even early German baptismal certificates or marriage certificates were considered at one time to have been valentines, but were more likely simply decorative and pictorial documents which contained lovely verses.

8.       France
In France, a custom known as "drawing for" once occurred. Unmarried individuals, both young and not so young, would go into houses facing each other and begin calling out across from one window to another, pairing-off with the chosen partner. If the young man failed to be particularly enthralled with his valentine, he would desert her. As a result, a bonfire would be lit later where the ladies could burn images of the ungrateful sweetheart and verbally abuse him in a loud tone as the effigy burned. This ritual was eventually abandoned since it left much room for nastiness, ridicule or even outright malice and the French government finally handed-down a decree officially banning the custom. Elegant French greetings cards known as cartes d'amities, which contained tender messages, were given not totally as a Valentine but chiefly as a result of a fashion which was popular in England at the time.

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9.       Italy
In Italy, Valentine's Day was once celebrated as a Spring Festival, held in the open air, where young people would gather in tree arbors or ornamental gardens to listen to music and the reading of poetry. However, over the course of the years, this custom steadily ceased and has not now been celebrated for centuries. In Turin, it was formerly the custom for betrothed couples to announce their engagements on February 14. For several days ahead of time, the stores would be decorated and filled with all manner of bon-bons.

10.   Austria
Austria has some rather obscure courtship customs that may or may not be associated with Saint Valentine's Day. Nonetheless, it is customary for a young man to present his beloved with a bunch of flowers on February 14.

11.   Spain
In Spain, it is customary for courting couples to exchange gifts on Valentine's Day and for husbands to send their wives bouquets of roses.

12.   Slovenia
In Slovenia, February 14 is considered a great day for working in the fields, according to many reports. St. Valentine is one of the patron saints of spring, so what better time to get out on the farm or vineyard after the long winter and start working on the future harvest? All isn't lost for lovers, though. Roughly a month later, Slovenians traditionally celebrate St. Gregory's Day, March 12, as a romantic holiday.

13.   Poland
Many Polish people celebrate Valentine’s Day (Walentynki), a day associated with romance and love, on February 14. Valentine’s Day focuses on love, romance, appreciation and friendship. Chocolates, candies shaped in red hearts, and other gifts are given to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Women’s Day are also observed in Poland, in which friends, partners, and family members received gifts, cards or flowers.

14.   Ukraine
When the so-called Iron Curtain fell down, people of the Former Soviet Union saw that there are a lot of nice European and American holidays and have eagerly adopted some of them. There is no point in describing Ukrainian St. Valentine's Day as there is practically no difference from the Western holiday of the same name.

15.   Estonia & Finland
All aboard the love bus! While Estonia celebrates Friend's Day on February 14, the country also has an interesting tradition for single people. Those not romantically attached on Valentine's Day can take a ride on the love bus — yes, it’s really called that — in the hopes of meeting someone special. And even if you don't meet your match aboard the bus, taking the ride with your other pals is your Friend's Day consolation prize. In Finland, February 14 is also known as Friend's Day — a holiday traditionally celebrated with your entire squad, not just your significant other. Cards and gifts are still in order, but for everybody. Even if Friend's Day sounds a lot like a kinder name for Singles Awareness Day, there are still plenty of people in the Nordic country, where public displays of affection are rare, who celebrate their romantic relationships on February 14: it's a popular day to get engaged, and stores are full of heart-shaped Valentine's Day paraphernalia.

16.   Denmark
Although Valentine’s Day is a relatively new holiday in Denmark (celebrated since the early 1990s according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark), the country has embraced February 14th with a Danish twist. Rather than roses, friends and sweethearts exchange pressed white flowers called snowdrops. Another popular Danish Valentine’s Day tradition is the exchange of “lover’s cards.” While lover’s cards were originally transparent cards which showed a picture of the card giver presenting a gift to his sweetheart, the term is now synonymous with any card exchanged on Valentine’s Day. On February 14th, men also give women gaekkebrev, a “joking letter” consisting of a funny poem or rhyme written on intricately cut paper and signed only with anonymous dots. If a woman who receives the gaekkebrev can correctly guess the sender, she earns herself an Easter egg later that year.

17.   Japan
Japanese women do not wait for men to make the first move, at least on Valentine’s Day. For one day of the year, Japanese women traditionally give men gifts and affection, instead of the other way around. One particularly popular gift is chocolate — homemade honmei-choco for the object of your desire or store-bought giri-choco as a non-romantic sign of affection for friends and coworkers. The nation's men return the favor on March 14, known as White Day, when guys give women white chocolate or other white gifts.

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18.   China
The equivalent to Valentine’s Day in China is Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month each year. According to Chinese lore, Zhinu, a heavenly king’s daughter, and Niulang, a poor cowherd, fell in love, married and had twins. When Zhinu’s father learned of their marriage, he sent his queen to bring Zhinu back to the stars. Upon hearing the cries of Niulang and the children, the king allowed Zhinu and Niulang to meet once a year on Qixi. During Qixi, young women prepare offerings of melon and other fruits to Zhinu in hopes of finding a good husband. Couples also head to temples to pray for happiness and prosperity. At night, people look to the heavens to watch as stars Vega and Altair (Zhinu and Niulang, respectively) come close during the star-crossed pair’s annual reunion.

19.   South Korea
Many women in South Korea (as in Japan) spend Valentine's Day showering men with gifts, and the men do the giving on White Day, March 14. But South Korea takes things a step further with a third holiday. On April 14, known as Black Day, single friends gather to eat noodles and celebrate their (lack of) relationship status. The holiday takes its name from the noodle dish, which includes white noodles in a black bean sauce. Black Day celebrations are spirited and fun, but somber in origin — the black food symbolizes sorrow.

20.   Taiwan
Valentine's Day is celebrated in Taiwan on February 14, but there is also a special Valentine's Day on July 7 of the lunar calendar, based on an ancient Chinese folktale (**). Both dates are equally as important. Many men purchase expensive bouquets of roses and other flowers for their sweethearts on these days. According to Taiwan tradition, the color and number of the roses holds much significance. For example, one red rose means "an only love," eleven roses means "a favorite," ninety-nine roses means "forever," and one hundred eight roses means "marry me."

21.   India
Valentine's Day celebration is a recent phenomenon in India but has caught the fancy of people to a great extent. Though some see it as a western import and hesitate to celebrate, there exist a large and growing number of those who love the feeling behind the beautiful and romantic festival. Especially to the Indian youth February 14 signifies love - a day when people express their affection for others. Just as several other countries, people in India too celebrate the Valentine's Day by exchanging cards and gifts.

22.   Iraq
Exchanging over-the-top gifts for Valentine's Day may seem like a Western tradition, but Iraqis also celebrate February 14 in style. In Iraq, huge teddy bears, red roses, and traditional Valentine's Day cards are common. Al Arabiya explains that on Valentine's Day, all of Baghdad appears to be overtaken by the color red. That said, conservative Muslims don't celebrate the day and view it as a Western holiday.

23.   Saudi Arabia
Valentine's Day is officially banned in Saudi Arabia. In the days before February 14, it’s illegal to sell roses and love-themed greeting cards in the desert kingdom, where conservative Muslims believe the holiday promotes alcohol consumption and premarital sex. If you happen to be there, you're likely to encounter officers from Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, especially if you engage in any public displays of affection (those are also punishable by law). One shop owner in Saudi Arabia told WorldPost that there's a sort of underground market for red roses; customers place the orders over the phone, and the secret gifts are hidden in the back of the store, in case police inspect the retailer. Saudi Arabia isn't the only country to clamp down on Valentine’s Day. Iran, Malaysia, and Indonesia have enacted similar bans.

24.   Philippines
How would you feel about sharing your wedding day with another couple? We think of brides and grooms as loving the spotlight, but that's not necessarily the case on Valentine’s Day in the Philippines, where couples line up for mass weddings on February 14. On Valentine's Day in 2013, 200 couples married in one ceremony in Quezon City, for example, and a total 4,000 couples were married throughout the country, Xinhua reports.

25.   Brazil
Brazil celebrates its version of Valentine's Day, Dia dos Namorados, in June. The holiday on June 12 is timed to coincide with St. Anthony’s Day on June 13. St. Anthony of Padua died on June 13, 1231 and is considered by some to be the patron saint of marriage. Dia dos Namorados, which roughly translates to "Lovers' Day," or "Boyfriends' /Girlfriends' Day," is celebrated with gifts and decorations similar to those traditionally found on Valentine's Day. Celebrating in June also leaves more time in February for Carnival, the raucous annual festival timed to coincide with the beginning of Lent.

26.   Argentina
One day isn't enough to celebrate Valentine's in Argentina, land of Tango.  Argentinians take a week to celebrate the occasion.  In addition to February 14th they set aside seven days in July for “sweetness week.”  From the 13th to the 20th, lovers and friends will exchange candies and kisses. This week typically ends with “Friendship Day”.

27.   Chile
Chile is known as “the land of poets”, and it is true that Chileans are really romantic too. The “Dia de San Valentin” is anticipated greatly by lovers. Chileans love to celebrate and Valentine’s Day is a special occasion for couples, who celebrate with true excitement. It’s typical to walk around the city and see decorations all around as shops, malls and streets are beautifully decorated with flowers, balloons, and heart garlands. Restaurants, pubs, clubs, travel agencies and hotels engage in huge marketing promotions to offer incentives to lovers to do something really special. Flowers, chocolates, love letters and jewels are typical gifts. Going out for a romantic dinner is also a tradition for couples and public concerts enhance the romantic mood throughout towns and cities across the country.

28.   South Africa
Like many parts of the world, South Africa celebrates Valentine’s Day with festivals, flowers and other tokens of love. It’s also customary for women in South Africa to wear their hearts on their sleeves on February 14th; women pin the names of their love interest on their shirtsleeves, an ancient Roman tradition known as Lupercalia. In some cases, this is how South African men learn of their secret admirers.

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