How does Indonesia mark Valentine's Day?
Hari Valentine
- Local date
- February 14, 2027
The fourteenth of February is not a holiday in Indonesia, and the institutional trace it leaves runs the other way: around the date each year, education offices in a number of local governments issue circulars — surat edaran — asking schools in their area to discourage students from marking it. Depok in West Java issued one in 2023, Pasuruan Regency in East Java in 2017, and the Riau Islands provincial education office advised its senior and vocational secondary schools likewise. The stated reason is plain: it does not fit religious, social and cultural norms. Among the seven places on this page, Indonesia is the only one where the official paperwork mentions the day in order to tell people not to observe it.
What is this topic?
There is more than one day for showing affection, and they do not fall together: Japan has women giving chocolate on 14 February and a return gift on 14 March, Taiwan keeps both 14 February and the lunar Qixi, Brazil places it on 12 June, India stretches it into a week, and the United States keeps it to a single day. This page compares who gives, who returns, what is given, and how large a measurable trace the day leaves in each place.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.