One of the commonest customs & traditions of Valentine’s Day is going on dates, searching for the right companion. This practice probably descended from the popular English belief that birds chose their partners on February 14. And today’s Valentine’s Day is a time totally high on love?a time to whisper sweet ‘I Love You’s, propose with a bold ‘be my valentine’ or just flirt a special some one with a few love-verses or some sizzling kisses.

Quite in keeping with the Valentine’s Day customs & traditions, people buy romantic gifts & cards for their beloveds & occasionally they even get into the act of the day with fragrant flowers, candlelight dinners or a romantic day-out, whichever suits their pockets. Heart-shaped cards, candies & gifts are all the rage in the market this time around. Gifting of cute heart-locks & keys are also quite favorite customs & traditions on Valentine’s Day, to say ‘You hold the keys to my heart’. Then there’s the custom of sending romantic messages to him or her on Valentine’s Day. Thousands of stores sell mushy love-notes for this occasion to draw throngs of lovesick souls to their doorsteps. So if you want to pamper your sweetheart with some really romantic poems & songs, start queuing up now & avoid the rush!

In Wales there was this tradition of gifting carved wooden love-spoons on Valentine’s Day, while in some places of England you will find the custom of special Valentine’s Day feasting & baking of extra-special Valentine buns. Now, the Italian & British maidens observe Valentine’s Day with a very interesting custom. They stand by the window before sunrise on Valentine’s Day with bated breath because they believe the first man they spot would be their partners for the rest of life. In Denmark, people send anonymous love-letters to their valentines to keep the fun alive & kicking.

One of the many other Valentine’s Day customs & traditions is the pinning of bay leaves in the pillows by unmarried women on the Valentine’s Day eve. This comes from a belief that they would be easily able to catch a glimpse of their future husbands in dreams if they pinned five bay leaves to their pillows & sprinkled rose water on them the night before Valentine’s Day. Then there’s also a popular Valentine’s Day practice of choosing female-partners by drawing their names from a big jar. Men pick a piece of paper each & the woman whose name comes up, she becomes his valentine. In some occasions, men wore their partners’ names on their sleeves & it is probably from this that the popular Valentine’s Day saying of ‘wearing the heart on sleeve’ came from.

There are umpteen customs, traditions & beliefs associated with this most awaited day of Love?Valentine’s Day. But not each is followed everywhere. With regional variations, the customs undergo slight modifications too. But the underlying current is the same everywhere! People wallow in their loved ones’ company, talk about being in love, enjoy being in love, promise to be in love & feel love all around as all colors are put into the back-burner for the day & the only color that reigns is red!

Sean Carter writes on holidays, Valentine’s Day & world events. He also writes on family, relationships, celebrations, religion, love & friendship. He is a writer with special interest in ecard industry & writes for 123greetings.com. He is an active blogger at Valentines Day Blog.