Afghan girls buy gifts during Valentine’s Day in the Shar-e-Naw area of Kabul on February 14, 2019. WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP
February 14 is a day set aside annually to celebrate love as the season connotes. Valentine’s Day is a time when people show affection and friendship. It is celebrated in many ways worldwide and falls on February 14 each year.
Many people around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day by showing appreciation for the people they love or adore.
Some people take their loved ones for a romantic dinner at a restaurant while others may choose this day to propose or get married. Many people give greeting cards, chocolates, jewellery or flowers, particularly roses, to their partners or admirers on Valentine’s Day.
Across the world, the day was celebrated by many who took out time to show love to their spouses, parents and loved ones.
In Paris, the French capital, most couples still took out time despite the work schedule to celebrate the season.
The situation wasn’t different from Afghanistan, the Philippines, Iraq, Pakistan, Britain, the United States and other countries where Valentine’s day was celebrated in love.
Meanwhile, in India, more than 10,000 schoolchildren, some as young as six, made Valentine’s Day pledge not to marry without their parents’ consent.
The vast majority of Indian marriages are arranged by families and couples who defy tradition to marry outside caste and religion face a severe and sometimes deadly backlash.
Some 10,000 pupils aged six to 17 and even some teachers took a vow at 25 schools to “love and respect their parents till eternity” in the western state of Gujarat — the stronghold of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I will always respect their decision because no one in the world has sacrificed for me like them,” said student Samadrita Banerjee.
People in swiftly-changing but still largely conservative India also often frown upon unmarried couples who can find themselves being abused and harassed in public places.
Elsewhere, a school association in the southern state of Karnataka alerted teachers and parents to ensure children did not celebrate Valentine’s Day by bunking classes to go to shopping malls or the movies, The Times of India newspaper reported.
SEE PHOTOS BELOW:
Afghan girls buy gifts during Valentine’s Day in the Shar-e-Naw area of Kabul on February 14, 2019. In conservative Afghanistan, many Afghans are unaware of or don’t mark Valentine’s Day, but younger generations in urban areas are celebrating the day despite restrictions. WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP
Afghan civil society activists leaves after celebrating Valentine’s Day at Wazir Akbar Khan hilltop in Kabul on February 14, 2019. A number of civil society activists gathered on Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul city to celebrate Valentine’s Day with music and poetry. WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP
Young Pakistani vendors stand next to heart-shape balloon as they wait for customers for Valentine’s Day on a roadside in Islamabad on February 14, 2019. AAMIR QURESHI / AFP
Indian shoppers look at roses at flower stall on Valentine’s Day in Amritsar on February 14, 2019. NARINDER NANU / AFP
A couple pose on the Bir Hakeim bridge in Paris on February 14, 2019 during Valentine’s Day. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
A policeman takes a picture of a couple on the Alexandre III bridge in Paris on February 14, 2019 during Valentine’s Day. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
Students from St. Scholastica’s College gesture with a “number one” sign as they take part in the “One Billion Rising” global movement in Manila on February 14, 2019, as part of the school’s Valentine’s Day celebrations. More than 3,000 students participated in the event as part of the campaign, calling for an end of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and children. TED ALJIBE / AFP.
A couple take selfies inside a skybox on Valentine’s Day overlooking the city skyline at Kuala Lumpur Tower in Kuala Lumpur on February 14, 2019. Mohd RASFAN / AFP.
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