White Day
Here it is, the follow-up to February's post on Valentine's Day!
On March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine's Day, people in Japan celebrate White Day. This tradition originally started in Japan and spread to other neighboring countries, and it's relatively recent. The first recorded celebration of White Day was in 1978 and, of course, it was manufactured by some chocolate/confectionery companies.
The point of White Day is to respond to gifts given on Valentine's Day. As I said in my other post, Valentine's Day in Japan is primarily for girls and women to give chocolates to the men in their lives, or to their love interests. White Day is then the chance for men to reciprocate and give the women something in return for anything given on Valentine's Day.
But this isn't limited to chocolate. Anything white will do on White Day, and sometimes even then you don't have to go for the traditional white. For the discerning gentleman, he may choose to reciprocate with fancy white chocolates or jewelry. But flowers, cookies, and even clothing are also acceptable on White Day. For men wishing to simply fulfill a social obligation, many will give women marshmallows.
Teachers who received chocolate on Valentine's Day may or may not choose to reciprocate to their students, and if they do it tends to be something small or inconsequential as it's just a social formality. But I find that it's not an obligation for the teachers, it's a personal choice. Having received chocolates from 11 of my students on Valentine's Day, I chose to respond in kind and gave them hand-made white chocolate bear faces (with the help of my husband who actually did all the work and I just tied up the baggies and took all the praise!) Maybe it was a little overboard, but they all thought it was cute so I think they went over well.
On March 14th, exactly one month after Valentine's Day, people in Japan celebrate White Day. This tradition originally started in Japan and spread to other neighboring countries, and it's relatively recent. The first recorded celebration of White Day was in 1978 and, of course, it was manufactured by some chocolate/confectionery companies.
The point of White Day is to respond to gifts given on Valentine's Day. As I said in my other post, Valentine's Day in Japan is primarily for girls and women to give chocolates to the men in their lives, or to their love interests. White Day is then the chance for men to reciprocate and give the women something in return for anything given on Valentine's Day.
But this isn't limited to chocolate. Anything white will do on White Day, and sometimes even then you don't have to go for the traditional white. For the discerning gentleman, he may choose to reciprocate with fancy white chocolates or jewelry. But flowers, cookies, and even clothing are also acceptable on White Day. For men wishing to simply fulfill a social obligation, many will give women marshmallows.
Teachers who received chocolate on Valentine's Day may or may not choose to reciprocate to their students, and if they do it tends to be something small or inconsequential as it's just a social formality. But I find that it's not an obligation for the teachers, it's a personal choice. Having received chocolates from 11 of my students on Valentine's Day, I chose to respond in kind and gave them hand-made white chocolate bear faces (with the help of my husband who actually did all the work and I just tied up the baggies and took all the praise!) Maybe it was a little overboard, but they all thought it was cute so I think they went over well.
Comments
Post a Comment