Love may be the
universal language, but its expression
varies
widely from
one culture to ___2___. On Valentine's Day in Japan,
girls give their sweethearts gifts of chocolate.
Store-bought sweets are considered insincere and many
girls will make their own. A month later, on White
Valentine's Day, it is the boys' ___3___ to give
something back.
In Scotland, Valentine's Day is celebrated with a festival, attended
by an equal number of unmarried men and women. The women
draw men's names from a hat and pin their partner's
name over their heart or on their sleeve. Scottish
lovers may also ___4___ love knots with each other, which
symbolizes
two lives closely
connected. Britons are famous ___5___
their love poems while Danish men write silly rhymes for
their valentines, which they send unsigned. The lady who
receives the card then must try to guess the sender.
Perhaps the most
unusual Valentine's Day tradition ___6___ between young
lovers in tribal New Guinea as they test their
compatibility at a private party called a kango. ___7___
by the girl's mother, a couple will
spend hours in her
hut singing high-pitched songs, holding hands, and
swaying together. When a young man finds the right girl,
he asks his father or older brother to kill a pig for
her parents. This gives a Valentine's Day twist to the
expression "bringing home
the bacon."
