Valentine’s Day is around the corner. This means that in a few hours’ time streets around the world will be filled with young lovers carrying teddy bears of all sizes, with their red outfits, and celebrating the occasion.
Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine is celebrated annually on February 14.
Some men buy gifts for their female partners on this day as an expression of love. Other men prefer to hang out with their wives, fiancées or girl friends.
For those who have not decided where they will spend Valentine’s Day with their loved ones, here is a list of places that have special events for the day:
Antar & Abla Show
Forsan el-Sharq Heritage Company
El-Gomhouria Theatre
February 14
08:00pm
Contrabass & Piano Recital
Mohamed Seif el-Yazal
Small Hall
February 15
08:00pm
Mai Farouk Concert
Main Hall
February 15
Farouk is one of the best vocalists on the local musical scene at present. She was only eight years old when she performed at the Opera House for the first time. Farouk is known for singing the unique musical masterpieces of legendary Egyptian singers and her own songs too.
Bayt Al-Sinnari
Brot
Monday, February 14
07:00 to 09:00
This is a documentary film about the art and love of bread-making. It will be shown in co-operation with the Austrian Cultural Centre in Cairo. The film gives insights into the world of bread and raises questions about the future of this industry and what we actually eat through a string of interviews with bakers and bakery CEOs.
El-Sawy Culture Wheel
Singer Essaf Concert
February 14
07:30pm – 09:30pm
Wisdom MMax Theatre – Zamalek
Tickets start from LE70
Those who will be outside Egypt on February 14 and miss out on these events, they have another chance to compensate it.
The fact is that Valentine’s Day is celebrated twice in Egypt.
Egyptians celebrate the occasion with the rest of the world on February 14. They also have their local Valentine’s Day. However, they celebrate this one on November 4 every year.
There are different accounts on the origins of this local Valentine’s Day, according to leading sociologist Soheir Lotfi.
The late renowned journalist Mustafa Amin (1914-1997) came up with the idea of this local Valentine’s Day, she told a local newspaper recently.
Amin was sitting on his the balcony of his house in downtown Cairo’s Sayeda Zeinab district one day in 1974, when he saw a funeral procession.
Surprisingly enough, there were only three people in the procession and this gripped Amin’s attention because it violated all social norms at the time.
He left his balcony and hurried to the procession to ask about the reason for the low turnout in it.
To his dismay, people in the procession told him that the deceased was a man who was loathed by everybody.
He went straight to his office at Al-Akhbar newspaper, one of the largest Arabic language dailies in Egypt until today, and wrote a column about the importance of specifying a day for love.
Nonetheless, Amin did not call for specifying this day for males and females in love. He rather called for dedicating a day for love in the broad and general sense.
Against all odds, Amin’s idea was severely criticised at the time.
He succeeded, however in making Egyptians specify one day for them to express their own feelings of affection for each other.
As time went by, Amin’s day of love became a copy of the international Valentine’s Day, even as he never wanted it to be that copy.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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