Riga - The first time my Latvian-born wife heard of Valentine's Day, it was part of a high-school lesson on the customs of capitalists.
"My English teacher thought it would be a good idea for us to learn about the customs they had abroad. So we all had to write a Valentine's card, and the teacher distributed them," she told me
shortly before our first Valentine's Day together.
My wife was born in Soviet Latvia in the Brezhnev years, when capitalists were "decadent," the victory of communism was "imminent" and five-year plans were completed in two and a half years.
Those were the days when flowers were the only gift you seldom had to queue for, and the calendar was crammed with festive days:
February 23 (Red Army day), April 1 (geologists), October 30 (mechanics), December 22 (electricians) and scores more.
"We used to give each other flowers all the time," she told me once, when describing her childhood. It may have been a hint.
Even now, 16 years since Latvia declared the renewal of its independence from the USSR, the biggest day in florists' diary is not February 14, but a date made popular in Soviet times: March 8,
International Women's Day.
On that day, every man in Latvia is expected to buy every female acquaintance he's likely to meet at least a small bunch of flowers. The bouquets don't have to be extravagant, but a failure to deliver
is likely to be viewed as a distinct lack of courtesy.
"On March 8, it's possible to give flowers to all women: relatives, friends, colleagues. It was popularized in Soviet times, but it's been our biggest day for as long as I can remember," said
Ilze Zagata, of online florist Teleflora.lv.
In its original incarnation, March 8 was a Soviet celebration, honouring a 1917 strike by Russian women widely seen as instrumental in the downfall of the last czar. As such, it fell out of favour with patriotic Latvians when the Soviet Union collapsed.
"Right after independence, March 8 was wiped off the calendar, except among ethnic Russians, but so many women complained that the tradition was revived very quickly," Zagata said.
During the 1990s, Latvia's economy and culture came to be dominated by Western goods and traditions. As a result, Valentine's Day is becoming more popular every year.
"Flower sales on March 8 are going up steadily, but sales at Valentine's are going by leaps and bounds. It could be more important than March 8 very soon now," Zagata said.
But if the number of men seen staggering along Riga's streets with armfuls of flowers last year is anything to go by, March 8 seems unlikely to vanish from the calendar any time soon.
And that being the case, Valentine's conquest of former-Soviet society looks likely to have less impact on Latvia's women than on their men.
Now excuse me - I have got to go and buy some flowers.
