2022.01.26
THEME: Valentine's Day
This week, APPLiAnytt offers a special issue where the focus is on specific product groups or themes – this time Valentine's Day. We hope to inspire activation ahead of this culinary celebration of love.
On February 14th, we celebrate Valentine's Day in Sweden, a holiday that differs from most others in that it is usually celebrated alone rather than together with others. Valentine's Day was first launched in Sweden in 1956 – by Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) – but then on February 24th, which is Skottdagen, which is the day when women were traditionally allowed to woo men. However, the following year, NK moved Valentine's Day to February 14th, which is also known as Sankt Valentins dag – Valentine's Day in English.
The origins of the holiday can be found in medieval traditions surrounding Saint Valentine, as well as spring festivals, where girls and boys were paired up for summer play and dancing. There is also a popular belief that birds found their mates in mid-February.
Not much is known about Saint Valentine, but according to one story, Saint Valentine was a priest who was executed for defying the emperor's ban on marrying young couples. Before his execution, he managed to smuggle out a letter to his lover, also the jailer's daughter, which would become the first Valentine's card.
During the Middle Ages, the tradition was to write poems to the person you loved on this day, something that changed in the 18th century to printed, decorated Valentine's cards.
How should we celebrate?
The most common thing is probably to give roses to the person you love on this day (several million roses are sold on this day in Sweden), but sweets and chocolate are also popular gifts.
According to an article in Aftonbladet in 2018, flowers and candy are okay, but you should avoid chocolate boxes and jelly hearts, as barely four percent like them (according to statistics from Svensk Handel, where a later survey also shows that the most common thing is to give a gift, closely followed by offering dinner).
Aftonbladet also advises readers not to buy gadgets for the home, and especially not kitchen utensils! The latter should probably be revised today, since during the current pandemic it is in most cases considered wiser to invite the one you love to dinner at home rather than at a restaurant, and then it can be neat to have a new kitchen utensil – in some form – to use while cooking…
Ola Larsson
