PakistanTalk Forum

Lady Macbeth · 02-11-2010, 05:17 PM

Hello guys and girls...
Please dont forget the one day when you get to treat that special someone with flowers and chocolates etc to make him/her feel how precious that person is.

Selma Shirazi · 02-13-2010, 08:38 AM

Happy Valentine's Day.

Don't forget to buy roses and presents for your beloved ones.

Selma Shirazi · 02-13-2010, 08:39 AM

Pakistan romantics brave all for love

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Hip young romantics in Pakistan are defying Taliban bombers and conservative parents this Valentine's Day.

Hip young romantics in Pakistan's most dangerous city are splashing out on text messages and teddy bears, defying Taliban bombers and conservative parents to find love this Valentine's Day.

It's taken four years and the prospect of never seeing her again, for Mohammad Asif to pluck up the courage to approach the object of his affections, a fellow engineering student in northwest city Peshawar.

Destined to graduate and look for a job in a city where bomb attacks have closed businesses and emptied markets, Asif realises it's now or never.

'After four years of studies, my classmates are dispersing and I finally want to express my love for a girl I've liked for the past four years, but never said anything,' gushes the 21-year-old.

'I've bought a card and chocolates to give her, so she knows that I love her. This is the day to disclose your hidden feelings,' he said.

For Shama Aamir, who bought scent, chocolates and a love heart for her husband, Valentine's Day is a ray of sunshine in a miserable life.

'Some people cannot express their love and Valentine's Day provides them a good opportunity. It's a positive thing in this gloomy atmosphere and bombings,' the 32-year-old told AFP.

Retailers only wish there were more people like her.

Nasir Ahmed, who owns a gift shop in Peshawar's Sadar bazaar, says Valentine sales are down 30 per cent this year because of unrest and inflation.

Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked bombings, which have killed more than 3,000 people in Pakistan within three years, surged late last year, much of it focused around Peshawar and northwest Pakistan.

Morale has suffered among the city's 2.5 million residents.

Checkpoints have mushroomed. Many struggle to make ends meet and cloister themselves at home, frightened of becoming the bombers' next victim.

'Sales have plummeted by at least 30 per cent this year. People are scared of going shopping and purchasing power has been severely dented by back-breaking inflation,' Ahmed said.

'Most of my customers are young people buying cards, chocolates, love hearts and teddy bears for their beloveds.'

Peshawar is a conservative Muslim city, where many disapprove of Valentine's Day as a Western import. Women are veiled and few girls go out alone.

Valentine's Day is the preserve of the young, educated and wealthy.

Secret trysts are a dream, even more difficult on Sundays, when schools are closed.

For young lovers with strict parents there can never be chocolates, roses or candlelit dinners as enjoyed by contemporaries in the West.

Kashmala Qasim fell in love with someone she met when displaced by fighting between the army and Taliban last year.

Now at home with her family in the Swat valley, far from Peshawar, a text message is her only Valentine's hope.

'It's impossible for me to go to Peshawar. I tried my best but it is impossible to meet him. So the only way I have is my mobile. I'll send him wishes by SMS,' she said by phone from Swat.

But Aftab Ahmed, a 30-year-old civil servant, claimed to be among those bombarding networks with furious text messages condemning Valentine's Day as an offence to local culture.

'Valentine's day is un-Islamic and against our culture and values... I've sent more than 1,000 text messages to various people,' Ahmed claimed.

Haji Zar Khan, spokesman for militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, currently subject to Pakistani military operations near Peshawar, was unaware of the significance of the day -- until he was filled in by an AFP journalist.

'Through you we send this message to all Peshawar -- people should refrain from celebrating Valentine's Day otherwise they'll be responsible for the consequences,' Khan told AFP.

Link: Telstra BigPond News and Weather

Solid Beast · 02-13-2010, 10:13 AM

History of St Valentines Day

Valentine's Day - the popular festival of love and romances traces its origin to ancient Roman festival and has not been created by card companies as some people believe it to be. There are various legends associated with the festival along with the belief that birds began to mate from this day. Popularity of the Valentine's Day festival stems from the combined effects of all these legends, beliefs and of course the wish to glorify the unparalleled feeling of love.

Feast of Lupercalia

Historians trace the origin of Valentine's Day to ancient Roman Empire. It is said that in the Rome of ancient times people observed a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno - the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. On the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called 'Feast of Lupercalia'. The festival of Lupercalia was celebrated to honor the Gods Lupercus and Faunus - the Roman God of Agriculture besides the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

An interesting custom was followed in the Feast of Lupercalia to bring together young boys and girls who otherwise were strictly separated. On the eve of the festival names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl's name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometime pairing lasted for a year until next year's celebration. Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other and later marry. The custom lasted for a long time until people felt that the custom was un-Christian and that mates should be chosen by sight, not luck.

Defiance by Saint Valentine

The pairing of young boys and girls did set the mood of the Valentine's Day Festival as we know today. But it was actually due to the efforts and daring of a priest St Valentine that the festival got its name and clearer meaning. The story goes that during the reign of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in several bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius found it tough to get soldiers and felt the reason was men did not join army because they did not wish to leave their wives and families. As a result Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. A romantic at heart priest of Rome Saint Valentine defied Claudius's unjustified order. Along with Saint Marius, St Valentine secretly married couples. When his defiance was discovered, Valentine was brutally beaten and put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. After his death Valentine was named a Saint.

According to another version of legend Valentine was killed because he attempted to help Christians escape from the Roman prison as they were being tortured and beaten there. Yet another popular version of the legend states that while in prison Valentine or Valentinus fell in love with jailer's daughter who visited him during confinement. Before his death Valentine wrote a farewell letter to his sweetheart from the jail and signed ‘From your Valentine'. The expression became quite popular amongst love struck and is still very much in vogue.

By the Middle Ages, Valentine assumed the image of heroic and romantic figure amongst the masses in England and France. Later, when Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from February 15 to February 14. Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to end the pagan celebration.

Beginning of Birds Mating Season

During the Middle Ages, people in England and France held a belief that birds started to look for their mate from February 14. This popular notion further helped to link Valentine's Day - celebrated in the middle of the February, with love and romance. Over the period of time, St Valentine became the patron saint of lovers and they began to celebrate Valentine's Day as a day of romance by exchanging love notes and simple gifts such as flower.

Popularity of St Valentines Day

Valentine's Day festival gradually grew in popularity amongst the masses due to the combined effect of all the above said reasons. To mark the day lovers began to exchange love notes called ‘Valentines' with their sweethearts. In the beginning the trend was to send handmade cards but this was changed in the beginning of 19th century and mass-produced greeting cards caught the fancy of the people. In the course of time, Valentine's day came to be regarded as the festival that celebrates love and not just romantic love. Today, Valentine's Day cards are gifted to teachers, parents, friends, siblings and sweethearts. Popularity of Valentine's Day has spread in countries across the seven continents and is still increasing by the year.

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