Thursday was a day widely celebrated in the West as Valentine’s Day. In the Kingdom, however, celebrations on such occasions are muted in keeping with local traditions.
This particular day has often been in the news for a variety of reasons — red roses being banned, florists arrested and celebrations sometimes disrupted.
To find out what perceptions Saudis held for this particular day, I had invited comments from various individuals, primarily Saudis, to share their views with our readers. One particular response, from Muna in Riyadh, deserves mention and is included in its entirety.
A well-traveled Saudi lady with an extensive network of friends and interests, Muna writes:
“The idea of celebrating love and friendship is quite admirable. But any way you slice it, St. Valentine is a brilliant American marketing invention that was created to increase sales for shops.
It is also an awesome and blatant example of Americanization and commercialization of culture in full operating mode all over the world from New York to Timbuktu.
It has become mandatory to buy red flowers, a box of chocolates, perhaps even a jewelry gift, and fork over money to go out for dinner, whether you want it or not. The social pressure is too great not to participate in this day’s prescribed activities and the romantic consequences too unbearable to contemplate.
But what a shame that in thousands of years of history in over 150 countries and spanning at least 20 civilizations, we Arabs could not find one day that has a unique cultural significance for us as a people to display how satisfying it is to love and be loved. Perhaps the day that Shehrezad finished telling her 1001 Arabian Nights stories and lived happily ever after.
While I am at it, let’s not just choose another day, but I say let’s even ditch that mandatory red rose — that wilts within a few days — and fattening chocolates; let’s do something that is more creative, and actually symbolic of the love we celebrate.
I would rather have it be socially mandatory that an original poem is composed each year by your loved one. The exercise would remind him or her of the essence of their love, its beauty, and make them reflect on its changing nature. Add a little piece of jewelry and who needs St. Valentine?
Can you imagine a time when the social pressure would be so great on men that they all feel they must participate in this letter— or poem-writing or risk losing prestige among their friends? That women would use their poems, instead of those expensive watches, to show off whose husband loves his wife more?
Can you imagine the week before as most men in their offices are not working but are actually trying to compose some poetry and blatantly cheating from each other? Or that your grandchild one day rummaging through your drawers would find over 30 poems that document the love you shared with your spouse.”
Well said, Muna, and a suggestion that should surely offend no one. We do honor our National Day and Mother’s Day. So how about something along the lines of Spouse Day?
And we can choose any day of the year to celebrate it. And not necessarily with red roses and a whole bunch of other commercial demands.
