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How Valentine's Day is celebrated worldwide

Well, for Saudi Arabia, celebrating Valentine is illegal. It is a western culture and perhaps a corrupted one. It's a love day and a day to encourage all evil acts of love. No roses, no card, no romantic dinner is allowed in this land of Muslim. And so, rich Saudi couples are flying out to the nearby countries like Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar to celebrate Valentine. Roses, cards, romantic dinners are all allowed in these lands of Muslim.

I was in Dalian China in 1997 on Valentine day. Yes, people gave roses to their lovers. They gave only red roses, of course, as red is the color for Chinese. But the practice was mainly for the young ones. And the atmosphere of giving a rose was not quite romantic as it should be. I saw a young handsome boy rushed into a hotel counter to put a branch of beautiful red rose to a pretty reception and turned to rush out the door without saying a word. The girl at the counter picked up the rose bashfully and hid it under.

Roses are symbol of Valentine and no Valentine is a Valentine without roses. The best and most expensive roses in the world are no doubt in Holland. And no matter what quantity of roses Holland produces, it can never satisfy the insatiable world demand. This is especially true in this season of Valentine. This is why Holland branched out to the far away land of Ethiopia to produce other best roses for the world. It makes not only Ethiopian roses famous, it also introduces roses and Valentine to the Ethiopian too.

Thailand has long been known in her ability to adapt to all kinds of western culture. Naturally, Valentine is celebrated in Thailand. A single stalk of rose that costs at about Baths 30 (US$ 0.90) in normal time will be quadrupled on Valentine in a land where minimum wage is only US$ 6 per day. But surveys conducted year after year show that young people (mostly students) with no income will buy roses for their love ones anyhow on this special day. They all say it is an once a year event and it is well worth it for a four dollars rose.

What concerns all is the bizarre attitude of the young ones to celebrate Valentine. It is a day for girls to give their virginity to their love ones. This has gone from worse to worst. Last year, the education Minister had to come out and made a strong warning to parents to give special attention to their children on Valentine. At the same time, the Interior Ministry had put a ban on all motels in the country to strictly observe the law not to allow student to buy into any room service on Valentine. Plain cloths police were stationed at all motel or guest house to make supervision.

In Valentine this year of 2008, all regulations imposed last will again be carried out. The Cultural Ministry has also appealed to all schools not to have any activities to celebrate Valentine. A social ban will also be put upon for all teenagers to return home by 10 p.m.

Saudi Arabia, China, Ethiopia, or Thailand, I think they all miss the point of St. Valentines' day. To prevent or avoid all the unpleasant effects of Valentine, the best way out is to educate the people of the real meaning of St. Valentine. It is a day of love not western culture, not red roses or lust. For the greatest of all is love.

Learn more about this author, Lers Thisayakorn.
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