Friend’s Day on 14 February: While the world celebrates Valentine’s Day as the day of romantic love, Finland and Estonia celebrate Friend’s Day on February 14th. These countries have unique ways of celebrating the day with love, not just romantic, but all types of love. This is why Valentine’s Day in these countries is also called Galentine’s Day.
Here is why the two countries celebrate Galentine’s Day instead of Valentine’s Day.
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Why Do Finland & Estonia Celebrate Friend’s Day on February 14th?
Finland started celebrating Valentine’s Day as Friend’s Day in 1980 and soon influenced Estonia to follow the tradition too. These two countries, including a few more countries in Europe, aim to encourage their citizen to cherish the relationships they have with everyone. Thus, taking a step forward, they introduced this festival so that, everyone of all ages and relationships has a day to appreciate and express how much they value their family, friends, and lovers.
How Do Finland and Estonia Celebrate Valentine’s Day?
People in Finland and Estonia celebrate the day by exchanging cards, having food, playing and doing other activities, and spending time with the people they adore.
In Estonia, the day is called Sobrapaev, while in Finland, it’s called Ystävänpäivä. Both the words translate into “Friend’s Day” in English.
This custom is highly popular in both countries and denotes the importance of every bond we have as humans, unlike the actual Valentine’s Day, which is subjected to romantic love only.