Say it with handkerchiefs: the romantic designs from the women of Minho

Portuguese women show their love loudly, demonstratively and often through the medium of food. However, there are strict social rules around how they live their lives. Although many of these have lifted in recent decades: women now go out and party alone and have sex before marriage, some are still surprisingly strong. For example, although a Portuguese woman can now ask a boy for a date, living together before marriage is still very rare. Go back even further to a time when women couldn't even express their interest in a man and you come up against a very endearing and sweet courtship ritual: the boyfriend's hankerchief (or in Portuguese, "Lenços de Namorados"). Still common in the north of Portugal, these hankerchiefs started as a tradition in the small Portuguese town of Minho. Women would embroider a hankerchief using traditional symbols (including flowers, forests, keys, little birds, doves, hearts, letters, dates, poetry, butterflies, fist and crowns amongst others) and find some way to get it to their sweetheart as an expression of their love. If the man then used it in public, a courtship would begin. You can't really buy these beautiful and lovingly-made objects very easily as they're so personal (although the Minho collective might be able to help) but I think that they're charming and would make an amazing gift for someone special.

Photos via Aceav, netartesao & e-cultura