as with many other countries, flowers, chocolate, and candy are always wonderful gifts, and in brazil, mother's day only second to christmas in commercialism.

june 12th is 'dia dos namorados' - which translates to the 'the day of boyfriends-girlfriends', is thought by many to resmeble what is known as  'valentine's day' in other parts of the world, which is usually celebrated on february 14th. 

however, 'dia dos namorados' is actually the day to celebrate saint anthony of padua - in brazil, saint anthony is often referred to as the marriage saint.

it is common for girls to pray to him for a husband, and writing the names of three possible boyfriends on separate pieces of paper - on the night of the 12th, they place the names under the their pillows at night and draw one on the morning of june 13th.