Valentine’s Day is a festival that cherishes love and romance. The festival falls on February 14 every year and is celebrated in several countries across the world including US, UK, Canada, Japan, France, China and India. Though the festival commemorates the martyrdom of a Christian saint called St Valentine, the festival as it is celebrated today has little religious significance. In present times, Valentine’s Day has assumed a material and global flavor and is celebrated by people of all ages and races.
Valentine’s Day celebration is a recent trend in India but has caught the fancy of people to a great extent. Though some see it as a western import and hesitate to celebrate, there exist a large and growing number of those who love the feeling behind the beautiful and romantic festival. Especially tothe Indian youth February 14 signifies love – a day when people express their affection for others. Just as several other countries, people in India too celebrate the Valentine’s Day by exchanging cards and gifts.
Euphoria of Valentine’s Day festival can be experienced weeks before the festival. Television, radio and print media start creating excitement about the festival by covering all aspects of it. Gift marketers and card companies launch a scrupulous movement to attract the youngsters. Card and gift shops are interestingly decorated with symbols of Valentine’s Day including roses, angel and heart shaped balloons. Shopping malls in metropolitan cities organize fun-filled competitions and distribute discount coupons to lure the consumers.
On February 14, the Valentine’s Day restaurants, discos, Cineplex, pubs and pizza parlors see a particularly busy time as couples celebrate the day in togetherness. Many boys and girls even propose to their sweetheart on this romantic day. People also express love to their friends, teachers, siblings and parents. Popular Valentine’s Day gifts exchanged in India include chocolates, fresh flowers, cards, soft toys and candies. These are also clubbed with several other gifts to pamper sweethearts.
Valentine’s Day festival holds immense importance for those in love. Lovers around the world anxiously wait for the festival as it gives them an opportunity to express love for their beloved and spend a day in togetherness. Celebrating the festival in a traditional manner lovers go out for date in a park or spend time looking into the eyes of their partners over a candlelight dinner. Indulging sweethearts with fresh flowers mainly red roses, chocolates, cards and other gifts of love is the other most popular custom of Valentine’s Day for lovers.
Valentine’s Day Festival has been associated with lovers since long but in present times the scope of the festival has grown beyond lovers to include just anyone and everyone we love. These days, people buy cards, flowers and gifts for their friends, spouse, parents, children, teachers or anyone they find dear and express their love and affection for them.
Though one may say that love is to be celebrated everyday and not just one, lovers cherish the fact that there is exclusively a festival that celebrates love and lovers and provides opportunity to pamper their beloved with love.
Valentine’s Day celebration of present times is that the festival celebrates love in all its forms and is not just limited to romantic love. People therefore exchange Valentine’s Day greetings with their parents, teachers, siblings, friends, sweethearts or anyone special or close to them. The commonest way of expressing love on Valentine’s Day is through exchanging cards, flowers and chocolates.
Leave a Reply