Moscow mall drops 99,000 red balloons on shoppers to celebrate St. Valentine's Day

On February 14, when the world celebrates St. Valentine’s Day, Moscow's Riviera Shopping Mall put on a spectacular show by dropping more than 99,000 balloons from underneath the mall dome. The balloons had been secured in the heart-shaped net underneath the dome.

Organizers noted that the balloons were made from 100% natural latex.

Additionally, the shopping mall hid gift certificates inside some of the balloons, allowing lucky shoppers to pop them and claim prizes from various stores.

However, the event led to unexpected chaos. For nearly two hours, visitors at the Riviera Mall struggled to leave the parking lot due to congestion caused by the balloon drop. Many complained of feeling unwell due to carbon monoxide exposure, with some stuck in their cars alongside children.

“We’re suffocating, cars aren’t moving, kids are breathing this gas, and there are people everywhere,” frustrated users wrote online.

In Russia, attitudes toward St. Valentine’s Day are mixed. Many people, especially younger generations and urban residents, embrace the holiday, exchanging gifts, flowers, and romantic gestures. Shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment venues often organize themed events and promotions. However, the holiday is not officially recognized by the government, and in some regions, local authorities and religious figures discourage its celebration, viewing it as a Western influence that contradicts traditional Russian and Orthodox Christian values. Some schools and public institutions have even banned Valentine’s Day celebrations in favor of promoting Russian family-centered holidays like the Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity on July 8.

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Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy and beekeepers. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine's Day) since at least the eighth century. Relics of him were kept in the Church and Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede during the pontificate of Nicholas IV". His skull, crowned with flowers, is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Other relics of him are in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, Dublin, Ireland, a popular place of pilgrimage, especially on Saint Valentine's Day, for those seeking love. At least two different Saint Valentines are mentioned in the early martyrologies. For Saint Valentine of Rome, along with Saint Valentine of Terni, "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe", according to Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas.