In some parts of the world, if you are harboring a secret crush, Valentine’s Day is when to let it be known.
Each year on that day, many quivering hands have offered chocolates and flowers, and many a racing heart has skipped a beat at the words, “Will you be my Valentine?The question seems rather strange when you think about it. But then again, its oddity pales next to courting rituals common in other parts of the globe
.
The Dai are famous for their dating and marriage customs. Young males and females flirt and date before marriage. Premarital s*x is allowed and even encouraged.
Teenage girls have traditionally had a room away from their parents so the can secretly meet their lovers and signaled their interest in a young man through atonal singing or by tossing him “love bag.” If he was interested they dated and later they may became engaged to marry.
The Dai people of China practice an annual courtship ritual called “visiting girls.” It starts out with young women sitting together around a bonfire and turning their spinning wheels. A group of men draped in red blankets and playing musical instruments approaches them, and each man chooses a woman to serenade.
If the woman of his choice likes him back, she’ll take out a small stool from under her skirt and invite him to sit on it. Then the man will wrap her in his red blanket, and they’ll do what lovers do everywhere: whisper sweet nothings in each other
‘s ears.
The Dai are very loyal to their home village and identify with it even when they move somewhere else. Names are often bestowed by landlords and even schools rather than passed down through clans or from a common ancestor. The Dai have traditionally settled disputes among themselves with the guidance of village elders rather through the Chinese judicial system. Judgments and punishments were often made on Buddhist beliefs and scriptures.
