Every September, Colombians celebrate Amor y Amistad, a tradition built around couples, friends, family, secret gifts — and the idea that romantic love isn’t the only love worth celebrating.
In Colombia, Valentine’s Day doesn’t really belong to February.
The flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners and declarations of love arrive seven months later, in September.
And there’s one important difference:
Friends are invited, too.
Known as Día del Amor y la Amistad, Colombia’s celebration of love and friendship is traditionally observed in September. This year, the celebration falls on Saturday, September 19.
But calling it simply “Colombia’s Valentine’s Day” misses what makes the tradition so distinctly Colombian.
Amor y Amistad can mean dinner with your partner, but it can just as easily mean exchanging candy with coworkers, getting together with friends, buying something for a family member or discovering who has been secretly leaving you little gifts for weeks.
Because in Colombia, the holiday isn’t only about being enamorado.
It’s about querer.
The other love holiday
February 14 is increasingly recognizable in Colombia thanks to global popular culture and marketing, but September remains the country’s major celebration of romantic love and friendship.
And Colombians are still very much celebrating it.
According to a new 2026 survey from Colombia’s National Federation of Merchants, FENALCO, 78% of respondents plan to celebrate Amor y Amistad this year.
The most popular plan?
Going out to eat with a partner, selected by 32% of those surveyed. Another 26% planned gatherings with friends or family, while others planned gifts, dinners at home, movies or outings.
Those numbers reveal something important about the holiday.
Romance matters.
But it doesn’t get the entire day to itself.
And then there’s Amigo Secreto
Ask Colombians about Amor y Amistad and one tradition will inevitably enter the conversation:
Amigo Secreto.
Think Secret Santa — but in September.
Friends, relatives, classmates or coworkers secretly draw names and eventually exchange gifts. Depending on the group, there may also be smaller treats or clues leading up to the big reveal.
And this isn’t some disappearing tradition from another generation.
FENALCO’s 2026 survey found that 73% of those planning to celebrate will participate in Amigo Secreto. Workplaces are the most common setting for the tradition, followed by families, schools and groups of friends.
It can be sweet.
It can be chaotic.
And there is always the possibility that you draw the one coworker you barely know.
That, too, is part of the experience.
Chocolate still wins
For all the changes in how Colombians communicate and shop, the gifts themselves remain wonderfully familiar.
Chocolate and sweets are the most popular choice in FENALCO’s 2026 survey, followed by invitations to eat, clothing and shoes, cosmetics and perfume, gift cards, and jewelry.
Nearly half of those surveyed — 48% — expect to spend at least 100,000 Colombian pesos on the celebration, up from 34% in FENALCO’s 2025 survey.
And where are people getting ideas for those gifts?
Increasingly, exactly where you would expect in 2026:
Social media.
Forty percent of respondents said social platforms were their main source of gift inspiration.
Even Amor y Amistad has entered the algorithm.
Why the “friendship” part matters
There is something quietly beautiful about the name itself.
Not Valentine’s Day.
Not Lovers’ Day.
Amor y Amistad.
Love and friendship.
The language makes room for relationships that don’t necessarily fit inside a romantic definition of love.
A partner.
A best friend.
A sibling.
Parents.
Coworkers who became friends.
The group chat that has survived several cities and several stages of life.
The friend you haven’t seen in months but can call as though no time has passed.
In a holiday usually marketed through couples elsewhere, Colombia’s version creates room for something broader.
Love doesn’t have to be romantic to deserve celebrating.
And when Colombians leave Colombia?
That’s when traditions like this can take on another meaning.
Move to New York, Miami, London, Madrid or anywhere else, and September 19 can suddenly become an ordinary Saturday.
Nobody at work is organizing Amigo Secreto.
The supermarket isn’t filled with displays reminding you what day is coming.
Your friends may have no idea why you’re sending them messages saying Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad.
But traditions travel.
Sometimes they’re recreated with Colombian friends abroad. Sometimes they become a WhatsApp message sent across continents. Sometimes they’re explained to someone experiencing the celebration for the first time.
And sometimes they become one of those little cultural markers that reminds immigrants that a calendar can mean completely different things depending on where you call home.
More than Colombia’s Valentine’s Day
It’s easy to describe Amor y Amistad as the Colombian version of Valentine’s Day.
And technically, that gets someone close.
But perhaps the more interesting distinction is right there in its name.
In Colombia, there is room on the calendar to celebrate the person you’re in love with.
And the people you simply love.
So whether today means flowers and dinner, Amigo Secreto, a family gathering, drinks with friends or just sending someone a message from thousands of miles away:
Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad. 🇨🇴❤️
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