White Day vs Valentine's Day

I got home this afternoon after a day of substitute teaching with bags of groceries holding all the goodies sure to make a fabulous dinner. Andy had been craving hamburgers and, with him suffering from a nasty strained muscle, it seemed like hamburgers would be a perfect dinner. When I pulled into our parking spot Andy was there to greet me and help me lug the grocery bags into the apartment. When we stepped into the house I was delighted to see that Andy had cleaned and bought flowers for the table. Today is White Day.

St. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14, and White Day one month later on March 14. It is said that St. Valentine's Day was imported to Japan in 1958 by a Japanese confectionery company. In Japan, it is only the women giving presents - mainly chocolate - to men, but not the other way around. Men are supposed to return the favors received on Valentine's Day one month later on White Day, a Japanese creation. White Day is believed to have been introduced by a marshmallow manufacturing company in the 1960s. The white marshmallows gave the day its name but other kinds of presents such as candy, flowers, etc. have become more popular over the years.

The real stinker about this tradition is that women are very good about giving valentine chocolates to all the men in their lives...a boss, a friend, a teacher, a co-worker, significant other, etc. and in return women generally get just the one gift from their significant other. Of course, the men generally spend a lot more on that one gift...