Although is becoming more and more popular, Valentine’s day is a relatively recent import in Latin America. The traditional advocate of Hispanic lovers is St. Anthony of Padua, whose figurine, when set on its head on June 13, is said to help find and/or recover true love.
Nowadays, in a weird combination of these two unrelated customs, single Latin American women write the names of their secret crushes on pieces of paper on Valentine’s eve, then open one of the pieces of paper on Valentine’s day to determine who to marry.
Ask around all you want, though, no self-respecting Latina would ever confess to having done it.
© 2009 Elianne Ramos. All rights reserved.
