Valentine’s Day : the occasion for youths to express love

Valentine’s Day occurs every year on February 14, and observed across the European continent, the United States, and other Christian dominated places across the globe. Valentine’ Day is a Christian Holyday which is observed to memorize3rd century Roman saint named Valentine. It is said that Valentine was a priest who refused to follow the new law imposed by Roman Emperor Claudius II.  The new law stated that the young man must stay single. It is believed that the Emperor did this to grow his army strong. The Emperor believed that married men are not good for the military purposes. The priest Valentine disobeyed his law and secretly arranged marriage ceremonies for young men and women. When Claudius found it out, Valentine was arrested and thrown in the jail. Later, he was executed. Since then, people started celebrating Valentine’s Day to remember him.

It is celebrated as a day of expressing love for each other, exchanging roses, greeting cards and other gifts such as candies etc. Many people wait this day to come to put a new love proposal to his/her beloved one. 14th February is undoubtedly the most significant day for the couples. The charm of valentine day in the east, especially in Nepal, has also been increasing year after year. The day has been special since it is the day of love. Observing Valentine’s day is celebrating love, friendship and relationship. The trend of celebrating Valentine’s Day making it special is increasing continuously.

The trend of celebrating Valentine’s Day in Nepal is increasing every year with the influence of modernization of society and westernization getting the strong hold of the country. Nepalese society has become a cross-cultural one these days as the trend of people going abroad either for job or study has been increasing.  Known as Pranaya Diwas in Nepali, it is celebrated with equal excitement and joy among youths in Nepal just like in other parts of the world. However, teenagers have adopted this day as their own. Basically, it is celebrated by exchanging teddy bears, greeting cards with the theme of love, chocolate hearts, and special dinner for the couple. However, everyone expects a great surprise on this day from their beloved ones. So, many people still wonder what to do on Valentine Day to make it special and memorable. Here in this article, I am going to tell you something regarding the same.

The entire city of Kathmandu was filled with the color of love on this day and even the weather turns out to be romantic (it had snowed in Kathmandu few days ago and that had happened after many years). Not only Kathmandu, but other major cities of Nepal are filled with the color of love on this particular day. The gift shops are filled with teddies, cards and chocolates along with flower shops decorated with red roses meant for the occasion. There was a news in media that Nepal imported roses worth over Rs. 1 crore on the occasion. Everywhere, mostly the restaurants, cafes, movie theatres, amusement parks and public gardens are filled with couples spending some quality time with each other

There are TV shows on Valentine’s Day, newspapers and magazines are filled with Valentine’s news. Youths also exchange love messages on various social media sites on the occasion. Some valentine’s messages and wishes are also seen printed on Newspapers and Magazines. Few youths even started giving wishes and greeting on TVs too. However, these activities are not significant comparing to other festivals in Nepal. Valentine’s Day is good business day for small hotels and restaurants in Nepal.