VALENTINES DAY CELEBRATION ALL AROUND THE WORLD!

Don’t you just love holidays? From all the goodies of Christmas, we are right back to another mega season of worldwide celebration, the celebration of love (popularly known as Valentine). As a Christian, showing and celebrating love is or should be our daily lifestyle but generally, love is the reason behind every celebration in any year. But the world has chosen Feb. 14th as the perfect time to do this because of the sacrifice of martyr St. Valentines, a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269. But let’s not bore ourselves with his story; I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it all over the radio that day. I’m more interested in how its celebrated all over the world. Now let’s globe trot and see how it’s done around the world.

In Europe particularly in Norfolk, a character called 'Jack' Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children. While in Finland Valentine's Day is called Ystävänpäivä which translates into "Friend's day". As the name indicates, this day is more about remembering all your friends, not only your loved ones. The same goes for Valentine's Day in Guatemala, which is known as "Día del Amor y la Amistad" (Day of Love and Friendship) where people do "acts of appreciation" for their friends. In some places St. Valentine marks the beginning of spring. For instance in Slovenia, Valentine's Day has been celebrated as the day when the first works in the vineyards and on the fields commence. Also in Asia particularly in Japan, it has become an obligation for many women to give chocolates to all male co-workers. This is known as giri-choko. Friends, especially girls, may exchange chocolate referred to as tomo-choko; from tomo meaning "friend". The men are expected to return the favour to those who gave them chocolate on March 14 which is called "White Day". Originally, the return gift was supposed to be white chocolate or marshmallows; however, lingerie and jewelry have become common gifts.

In China, the common situation is the man gives chocolate, flowers or both to the woman that he loves. In South Korea, women give chocolate to men on February 14, and men give non-chocolate candy to women on March 14. On April 14 (Black Day), those who did not receive anything on the 14th of Feb or March, go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and "mourn" their single life. Poor we *sniff sniff*. Anyway, can u believe that Valentine's Day is currently celebrated in Iran despite some restrictions made by government? Young Iranian boys and girls are seen on this day going out and buying gifts and celebrating. And in Saudi Arabia in 2008, religious police banned the sale of all Valentine's Day items, telling shop workers to remove any red items, as the day is considered an un-Islamic holiday. This ban created a black market of roses and wrapping paper. Hey, you can’t stop love. Enough talk. That’s a whole lot of information don’t you think?

So how should we make this day special in Nigeria? Let’s see. I know the conventional move is to hang out in an eatery joint but come on you’ve got to be more imaginative than that. The beauty of love is it goes to extraordinary limits in its expression (like Jesus hanging on the cross for you). So try to go out of your way and do something really special that says, “I love you”. Material gifts are not the only things you can give, there could be better options. And it mustn’t be for someone you know, could be for a stranger, a homeless person better yet give at-least half of the money you would spend for the gifts, to missionaries, or for the poor. You will have the best of feelings inside you. Many people have different ways they respond to love so get to know what it is and speak their love language in a way they can understand. It doesn’t have to be expensive just look for the person’s love language and speak it!

Ps.
That day is my boo's birthday so... you don't need to know how I'll be celebrating him, that's my secret. *wink* Happy birthday b***. muah!