Happy Valentine’s Day, Samoa!

By Sarafina Sanerivi 14 February 2016, 12:00AM

It’s Valentine’s Day, everyone! A day associated with romance and love, the spirit is certainly not lost in Samoa where the romantics will take time to celebrate today.

For Ta’aloga Woo Ching and her husband Fili Woo Ching from Moata’a, today being Sunday means their plans are restricted.

 “We will just go to church, then come back home and have to’ona’i with the kids,” said Ta’aloga. 

“Valentine’s Day is all about being with the people you love and I think there’s no better way to celebrate it than being surrounded with your loved ones.” 

For Tiare Annamaria Francis, she will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with her 1-year-old son, Bill-Roberts. 

“This is our second Valentine’s Day together,” she said. “God gave me the best gift ever and he will always be my Valentine.”

Tiare said her family is planning to have a picnic after church to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

“For this year, I will be celebrating this special day with the people whom I love and adore. They are my parents, and my dearest son.

“This is a special day not only for couples and lovers but it is a day to tell and show our appreciation for the people we love. And I am so lucky to have them in my life.”

But it’s a different story for Tekuiti Tutuvanu Mano and the love of her life, William Stowers. 

They have plans to go out and have dinner to celebrate their Valentine’s Day.

It is Tekuiti’s first time celebrating Valentine’s Day with a boyfriend and she is excited about their plan.

“It’s my first Valentine with a boyfriend ... because it was either I broke up with them by the time or I was on break with them...” 

The origins of Valentine's Day are not clear but many sources believe that it stems from the story of St Valentine, a Roman priest who was martyred on or around February 14 in the year 270 CE. How he became the patron saint of lovers remains a mystery but one theory is that the church used the day of St Valentine’s martyrdom to Christianize the old Roman Lupercalia, a pagan festival held around the middle of February.

 

By Sarafina Sanerivi 14 February 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>