This is the first Chinese New Year that I haven’t actively celebrated in quite some time. That’s not to say that I didn’t wish people in countries that do a Kung Hei Fat Choi (since I was in HK, I use the Cantonese version), it’s just that I didn’t go to a temple and collect my charms for the year or at the least, visit the local Chinatown.
Instead, I’m trying to assimilate into my new culture and this one starts the Year of the Monkey on 1 January so I feel like I missed a Monkey celebration.
What I get instead though is a Valentine’s Day one. Yes, this is ‘celebrated’ in HK too but not quite the way it is in Japan.
It’s still 14 February and it does involve chocolate. The similarities end there.
On this day, all women are meant to give all the men they know some chocolate. The quality of the chocolate is a reflection of the woman’s relationship with that particular man so you give your work colleagues a certain level of chocolate, your boyfriend / husband another etc.
Pop-up stores selling all sorts of quality chocolate are everywhere at the moment and will all go on sale now. It is not uncommon for women to also buy chocolate for themselves too. Why not when it’s quality chocolate on sale?
It doesn’t stop there.
March 14 is White Day. This is the day the men are to reciprocate. The thing is, they don’t reciprocate in quite the same way. They are meant to give more expensive chocolate (stories suggest in the old days it was marshmallow which is why it might be called White Day) than they received or an expensive gift of some sort (lingerie and jewellery being popular choices). The rule of thumb is three times as expensive, otherwise know as, triple the return. To give at the same or a lower level is a massive insult and makes the man look bad.
As an example, I was chatting with a woman earlier in the week and she’s been shopping for the men in her office. She’s happily married so she’s bought her man some great chocolate. The thing is, he’s not really into Valentine’s Day at all. As he’s quite senior at his work, he’ll definitely receive quite a bit of chocolate. Since his wife knows that he won’t shop for any for White Day, she does this too as she doesn’t want him to lose the respect of his team and colleagues.
It’s a high pressure celebration!
In my own team, I have more women than men. Through a team member, I was told that one of the men was trying to find a way to make this whole process more equitable as previously, he’s given quite a bit of great quality chocolate. It’s an expensive exercise.
It became a team building one over drinks where the team has now decided that this Monday, rather than give the men in our team chocolate, we will use the honorific title of ‘sama’ rather than ‘san’. What the women will be called on White Day is still up for discussion as there seem to be quite a few options.
This isn’t a Hallmark Holiday, it is a Chocolatiers Holiday. One of the theories of how it came to be that all women gave chocolate to all the men is said to be as a result of an mis-translation of the tradition in other cultures. In 1978, White Day began due to the National Confectionary Institution declaring a day to respond to the gifts given on Valentine’s Day.
And so the marketing juggernaut continues.
* Thanks to Parliament for the title to this post. I’ve gone Old School after watching Straight Outta Compton this weekend and have been listening to music they referred to and / or was sampled since then. Has been a great way to spend some time when I’m meant to be unpacking!