Valentines Day is Becoming More Globalized

Even Valentine's Day is Becoming More Globalized

The American culture is contageous. For example, more countries around the world are now celebrating Valentine's Day, according to Dean Foster. As more people communicate via the Internet or frequent traveling, ideas are spread more rapidly.
"Setting a day aside to show feelings appeals to other cultures," says Dean Foster, Senior Vice President of Intercultural Services for Windham International.

"But foreigners will express their affection, care and appreciation for others in their own, culturally-acceptable ways. If love makes the world go round, how we love changes as we go around the world. And, woe to the woer who doesnít know the difference."

For instance, we may bestow a box of chocolates on our beloved this Valentine's Day which is a long tradition going back to the Aztecs of pre-Colombian Centroamerican. But in Mexico today, chocolate may be more frequently used unsweetened as an ingredient in day-to-day meals, chocolate confections do not carry the same messageñ sweets, yes; chocolates...well maybe.

And, buttering up your honey with wine and spirits might also work in our culture, but in cultures where alcohol is prohibited, such as in Muslim cultures, a fine bottle of bubbly or "chateuneuf-de-whatever" simply won't be drunk, says Foster. Instead, fruits are often seen as embodying passionate ideas, and sharing a pomegranate or enjoying a luscious bowl of grapes, rambutans or other exotic sweet fruit can be an eveningís prelude to romance.

In Europe giving someone red roses almost always implies romance, not to be given as a casual thank you. However, red roses are not traditional expressions of romance in Asia; for one thing roses are not as common, and the giving of flowers as gifts to individuals (as opposed to ancestors and deities) is not a common ritual. Additionally, red in Asia is a color that traditionally symbolizes royalty and not romance.

A Kiss is a Kiss, right?

While kissing may seem universal, the rules under which it is allowed, and how it is done (as well as with whom!), can be quite different. As we know in the West, if two people kiss, it automatically implies a personal relationship, but the meaning can be quite subtle culture to culture. For example, men and women who know each other at work in the U.S. may or may not kiss each other upon greeting: in fact, in the day-to-day workplace, this kind of expression could be grounds for sexual harassment, but as occasional professional colleagues, it is often understood as an expression of collegiality and personal relationship. Same-sex kissing, in the same professional environment, is usually limited to women, although in Arab, Russian and some central Asian cultures, same-sex kissing is also permitted and expected between men as an expression of professional familiarity and trust.
Air kissing is done differently. In it's broadest form, it takes the form of two colleagues putting their cheeks next to each other and kind of kissing the air directly in front of them. In parts of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, parts of Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, once you have earned the familiarity required to kiss your professional colleague in the first place, you must do so AT LEAST two times: once on each cheek (starting with left usually). In parts of France and Italy, you might kiss three times; and as we move further south in Italy and east into the eastern Mediterranean world of Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, and parts of the Levant, you might kiss four times (never initiate these adventures: take your cues from your host and reciprocate in kind). And remember, you will see these traditions mirrored in Latin America, as well, where gender roles are highly formalized, and more ritualized, in some cases, than in the "mother" countries of Europe. In older circles in Europe and Latin America, men might, upon meeting, also take the hand of a woman, and raise it to their lips.

I want to hold your hand, I think?

As we move, however, to Asia and through the Arab and African world, men and women in both professional and personal life often do not touch each other in public. Even a man shaking a woman's hand in greeting are looked down upon in many Asian, Middle and Eastern and African cultures. For example, if a Muslim or Jewish woman were to first extend her hand to the man then he may shake her hand, but not the other way around.
In those cultures where kissing and close familiarity is permitted, we should also expect physical proximity and physicality. In Latin America, Russia, Central Asia and the Arab world, men embrace men and women embrace women (the Latin "abraso"), touch each other throughout conversations, and typically stand close enough to each other while conversing to make the North American uncomfortable. In these and other cultures (Southeast Asia, China and Korea, for example), men and men and women and women may walk down the street hand-in-hand, or embrace one another across the shoulder or waist. However, this is not public demonstration of attraction: this public demonstration of friendship and trust, and that is why it is acceptable between members of the same sex and not acceptable between members of the opposite sex.