Month of Love and Friendship in Colombia

Colombians do not only celebrate one day of love, like many countries do on Valentine’s day, but a whole months of love and friendship, ending the third Saturday in September with the day of love and friendships (Día de Amor y Amistad). As the 14^th February in many other countries, this day is also celebrated in memory of San Valentine who secretly continued to marry soldiers during the Roman Empire, after Emperor Claudio II had prohibited its soldiers to marry as he was of the opinion that soldiers in love do not bring the desired performance. When the emperor found out about this he ordered death penalty for San Valentine and he died on February 14th 270. Since 1969 Valentine´s Day is celebrated on the day of his death in most countries in the world. In Colombia however, this date was modified by traders who decided that the roses and chocolates should be sold and given in September, a month that up to that moment did not have any festivities.

So, how do Colombians celebrate the months and day of love and friendship? First of all, it is impossible to forget about it, as you see red and white hearts and flowers everywhere you go: in shops, in the streets, in restaurants. However, it seems well less commercialized than for example in the US. The most common tradition is the one of the ´secret friend´ (amigo secreto): Within a group of people you draw the name of your amigo/a secreto/a and then you secretly give sweets, little notes or flowers to this person every day until the Día de Amor y Amistad when you will hand over a gift to that person.

Katharina