I learned something fascinating about the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on the History Channel last night - I hadn’t realized that there was originally a Jewish guy in that Chicago garage. When Capone’s men showed up with tommy guns, he explained that he couldn’t be part of any massacre on a Saints’ day, so they let him go.
If I were to tell Mrs. Jackmannii that we couldn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day for religious reasons, she’d go upside my head real fast. 
Actually, Hallowe’en apear to be a Christian holiday that the neo-pagans are attempting to “reclaim” as Samhain, even though no one has demonstrated a connection. 
Halloween is the Eve of All Hallows a/k/a the night before All Saints Day. I don’t find it implausible that it might roughly coincide (intentionally or otherwise) with some old pagan festival, as there were a lot of them. The Christians who are down on Halloween now are, as I understand it, down on it because they think the witches and other symbols are a form of dabbling with or glorifying sorcery. Also, most of these opponents of Halloween are likely Protestant, not Catholic, and I don’t know how much recognition or importance Protestants give to All Saints Day.
I’ve met Orthodox who have never received or sent a Valentine’s card. And I had one girl I worked with tell me that in her de facto Orthodox ghetto no one even bothers buying candy for Halloween, as there ain’t going to be any trick or treaters.
You said it yourself. It’s not a Jewish holiday. If it’s a pagan holiday, it’s still forbidden. While Christian holidays are the ones to avoid here in the West, I’m sure there are Jews in the Middle East busy not celebrating holidays with Islamic or Pre-Islamic roots.
I dunno. Both are much, much more religious in nature than (the modern versions of) Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter. I haven’t celebrated Yom Kippur (or Passover or any of the other Jewish holy days) since renouncing the religion. And considering that Ramadan is a month of fasting, I doubt anyone would feel compelled to do it for no reason in particular. I mean, you gotta have some real conviction that you’re getting something out of it, right?
Nevermind the fact that it was never a Christian holiday to begin with. (I’m not trying to attack you here–pagan holidays are probably even more inappropriate for an Orthodox Jew, so your thinking is perfectly consistent, of course.)
My point was just that I clicked on “Jews and Valentines Day” in a somewhat confused state, not quite sure what beef Jews could possibly have with Valentine’s Day. And it wasn’t until a few minutes into reading the thread that I remembered that Valentine’s Day has (or at least is considered to have) Catholic origins. That’s how disconnected the concept of Valentine’s Day is from any specific religion to me.
Plausible? Sure. But when we get past hypothetical plausibility, actual history does not bear out any such link. (Fuller original citation.)
Buddhists go nutso over Valentine’s Day, or at least they do over here. Thais seem convinced “valentine” is just another English word for “heart” or “love.” They’ve really taken to it. There’s a real problem with young girls choosing that day to lose their virginity with their boyfriends. Each year, the authorities vow stepped-up surveillance of short-time love hotels to prevent students from checking in to them.
Surely not. The guys making the hit explained to Al Capone that there would be several innocent bystanders present, who must be killed lest they become witnesses. Mr. Capone replied, “I’ll send flowers.” As I explained to Mrs. Plant today, hence the Goyisch custom of giving each other flowers on February 14.
Back to the OP, we are Conservative, I a convert. Mrs. Plant, the Most Jewish Person in the World, would kill me if I didn’t send flowers and a card.
But wait, there’s more. My favorite Jewish gangster 
There are a couple of good political cartoons about Valentine’s Day in Thailand on on this page.
I can’t pass up a Siam Sam post without an elephant link. Besides, it is about Valentine’s Day.
Illicit liasons. Underage sex. Gee, this has Thailand written all over it. 
There’s social pressure to consider but Ramadan is also a big month long party. Albeit a month long party after the sun’s gone down but it’s still a month long party for much of the Muslim world.
Marc
I’ll grant that someone who grows up in a Muslim nation may still partake (er, not partake, er…whatever), but that’s a different statement from “grows up Muslim”. Fasting for a month in (say) LA is way different from fasting for a month in Riyadh.
I teach at an Orthodox Jewish private school, and Valentine’s Day was not even on the kids’ radar scope. It made a nice change from the Valentine mania of public schools.
Have they considered changing the name of the capital city?
Actually, it’s not called Bangkok except by Westerners (and not just sex tourists). The Thai name is Krung Thep, which means City of Angels (as in Los Angeles) and is actually short for its full name: “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.”
Which means: “The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.”
“Bangkok,” pronounced differently from how Westerners pronounce it (the A is pronounced like the A in “father,” and the O is long, like the O in “open”) was an informal name for it and means “place of olive trees.”
Glad you asked? 
Oh, and the first K in Bangkok is actually a G sound. “Bahng-gohk” is sort of how it sounds.
Funny you should mention that since it answers one of the questions I posed in this thread from five years ago.
Incidentally, I just looked at the packages of Valentine’s Day-themed dark chocolate m&m’s and Cadbury Mini Eggs I have and noticed they both have “U” and “D” designations on them thereby indicating that, like your grandfather, there are plenty of Jews who even if they don’t observe those holidays, still eat the holiday-related candy.
I’ve certainly eaten the Christmas-themed M&Ms, which are kosher (and dairy) just like all the other M&Ms. My guess is that they’re made on the same production lines with the same stuff as any other red and green M&Ms, and are just packaged differently. I don’t think they’re specifically targeting the kosher-keeping, Christmas-candy-eating population, it’s just that they’re already certified by default, so why not put it on the package?
FWIW, the U symbol you mention is actually an OU (outer circle = O, with a U inside it). It’s the symbol of the Orthodox Union, which is the largest kashrus-certifying organization out there. There are many other certifying organizations (some are listed here). The largest in the US are the OU, OK (a K in a circle), kof-K (see their website to see this symbol), and star-K (a K inside a five-pointed star).
I don’t eat much candy, but I’ve occasionally been tempted to buy the kosher-certified Easter creme eggs and serve them to other Orthodox guests, just because everybody would find it funny.
For what it’s worth, in terms of American holidays, I celebrate those that aren’t religious in origin, like Thanksgiving. (Many, although not all, Orthodox Jews, will celebrate Thanksgiving, although it tends not to be as big a deal as it seems to be for the rest of America, possibly because we have formal multicourse meals with the family every Sabbath. ) I love fireworks on the Fourth of July, although I don’t know how much I do to celebrate it per se, as I don’t have anywhere to barbecue; I can’t think of any other non-religious American holidays that have actual observances, although I’ll be as happy as the next gal to take off for Presidents Day on Monday. But even highly secularized holidays that started out as parts of other religions still qualify, in their own small ways, as an observance of another religion’s practices, and as such aren’t really something I’d be religiously comfortable with.
Not to get too off-topic here, but I remember years ago when the kosher soy “bacon bits” came out. My mother had a great time serving them to our non-kosher relatives; they all thought she had lost her mind because she was serving “bacon.”