VALENTINE FEVER: LOVE FOR THE FOREIGNERS, MATERIAL THINGS FOR MANY AFRICANS

We are in the month of love and many lovers are very expectant. Whereas foreign movies show men and women receiving kisses, flowers and having good dates on Valentine’s Day, we see in our local movies disappointed materialistic lovers who do not get gifts like clothes, cars etc… grumbling, with some shameless ones openly asking coyly or angrily;

      So where is my Valentine gift?

Some very aggrieved materialistic ones break their relationships after being teased by friends for having no gift on Valentine’s Day. Of course there are those given expensive gifts who jump and sing in joy and happiness, some defying the norms of self-composure, crying and kissing the benevolent giver.

Has the day of love turned into a day of harvest for the African?  Maybe we are forgetting the very story behind that celebration. Let me give you the story in brief according to Wikipedia:

 ‘A hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to the Legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to the story states that before his execution, he wrote a letter signed “Your Valentine” as farewell.’

Today, some churches do observe the day for reasons best known to them (The Orthodox Church, we know, celebrates it in honour of a presbyter named Saint Valentine) People in general acknowledge it as a day for lovers to show their love and affection. So where from the greed that accompanies the day with anger, sticks and guns?

We know most African women are not romantic, if you happen to give flowers some may ask you:

    ‘Do we eat flowers?’ Or ‘Will flowers recharge our units to make phone calls?’ Or ‘Will those flowers clothe us?’

Don’t be shocked too if some do take those flowers and throw them back at you. There are also the modest ones who will take them with smiles and appreciation while loud voices curse you in their heads. We also know most African men are very unromantic, because of this, I believe Valentine’s Day celebration is not for the African. What I do know for sure is that, most Africans fought with their strength for their women or families in times past. There are stories told of open battles for the hands of beautiful maidens in marriage. So if we are bent on celebrating lovers’ day, why can’t we celebrate it our way? Why don’t we frame our own version of the day with a story that is ours and a name we can be identified with? Let’s say:

‘Boasiako dↄ nkaeda’ for the Ghanaians, ‘Nwachuku’s Ojo Ife’ for the Nigerians etc…

  But if we still want to celebrate it the way foreigners do because we the women watch too many foreign movies and want what others in different geographical arena want, let us give them a break as women and let those men who are expecting expensive gifts from their rich lovers also give them a break. Let those who are stingy and so tend to fight their lovers a day before the celebration also stop scheming, it is not by force to give what you do not want to give or do not have. In the end, we are photocopying and a photocopy must be a direct replica of the original. So let’s do with the flowers and the kisses, remember those kisses cannot be in the presence of your mothers and grandmothers who still believe in the discrete manner of skin-ship, lest, you are branded a misfit and a shame to the African Continent. If you have no lover, do not fret, I’ll write you a consolation poem on that day.

                                                        HAVE A HAPPY MONTH OF LOVE!

      Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia.