Citizens of the United States traditionally spend St. Valentines day giving roses, cards, candy and giant fluffy teddy bears to the object of their affection. Valentine’s day can be called something different in other countries because it has a different origin; therefore they have different traditions. Here is a list of how other countries spend the day celebrating love.

Scotland: Although it is not country-wide, a popular activity in Scotland is to walk out, and the first person of the opposite gender you see is your Valentine for the day. So, you may be spending Valentine’s day with a stranger.

Japan: The Japanese Valentine’s day is sort of a two-parter. The females give the boys chocolate on valentines day (usually homemade) and a month later, on White day, the men that the chocolate was given to return the favor by giving the girls a gift two-to-three times the amount of money the chocolate was worth with something white: usually it is white chocolate, but marshmallows and white clothing work okay too.

Russia: Russia did not celebrate Valentine’s day until the collapse of the USSR, so they don’t have deep-rooted traditions. They mainly do the same things the United States does, although there is an area in Russia that banned Valentine’s day, because it celebrated being in love, not true love.

Germany: While they also have the traditional exchanging of flowers and chocolate, the Germans sometimes  include pigs in the celebration, because of their color and because they represent luck.

China: While most of the world have plenty of things in common, with a few unique things that come with that particular culture, China is very different. They celebrate on the seventh eve of the seventh month on the chinese calendar.  The Chinese believe that rain of Valentines day is the tears of a separated couple in Chinese legends and girls arrange sticks of fruit and incense.