Let us reinforce Chocolate Day

Today is Valentine’s Day and it will be celebrated throughout the world in various ways and at different levels.

In Ghana, since 2005 the day has been celebrated as Chocolate Day, with people presenting chocolates to loved ones, as is done elsewhere in the United States of America and Italy.

People will spend the day with families and friends, while various activities, including get-togethers, bring-your-bottle parties and church events, will be organised.

Indeed, Chocolate or Val’s Day is for showing love and affection to families and loved ones, colleagues or church members. Families put up programmes together, while lovers and couples plan romantic dinners or outings.

Gifts which are usually exchanged range from flowers, perfume, household items to cars.

Some husbands or men in general even go to the extent of giving their partners rings as a sign of the re-confirmation of their love.

As usual, the various courier services and event organisers will be busy delivering special parcels and managing programmes, respectively, to mark the day.

But, whatever the forms these special activities will take, the underlying objective is to show love and say ‘thank you’ to very special persons in one’s life.

Usually, the colour that is worn is red, although a few may wear white or other bright or favourite colours. Some men may even use this special occasion to propose to the women they intend to marry.

But how come we celebrate the day? It is very important that we do not lose sight of how the day came into being.

Valentine’s Day originates from the Roman Catholic priest called St Valentine, who was actually a very charismatic priest who extended love and support to the underprivileged, the needy and those marginalised in society.

The day, according to research, has its origin from the Roman Empire as a holiday on February 14 to celebrate the Queen of the Roman goddesses.

Another legend related to the origin of Valentine's Day refers to Valentine, a priest who defied the Roman emperors' order banning marriage between lovers during wartime, with Valentine secretly performing marriage rites for couples. When his actions were found out, he was put to death on February 14 and later was canonised by Pope Gelasius.

We of the Daily Graphic are, however, concerned about the fact that we are losing sight of the objective of this very important day which, for some time now, has been used to undertake a number of activities which seem to promote promiscuity among young people and generally immoral behaviours by people and the display of irresponsibility and extravagance.

At some of the programmes organised, very young children, some below 12 years, have been seen taking very strong alcoholic beverages and hard drugs, while our young girls dress provocatively.

The Daily Graphic believes that the Chocolate Day instituted 15 years ago must be reinforced.

The rationale for instituting Chocolate Day was to boost the domestic consumption of Ghana’s chocolate and other cocoa-based products, promote domestic tourism and give a healthy orientation to the celebration of Valentine’s Day in the country.

The Daily Graphic believes that these noble ideals should be emphasised yearly by policy makers and those who instituted the day.

Programmes must be organised around the consumption of chocolate and other cocoa products in schools, churches, mosques and public gatherings.

We also believe that our traditional and religious authorities should play a leading role in changing the narrative of the day through the introduction of some cultural and religious activities, respectively, to re-orient the youth to the values instituted in Chocolate Day and our traditional and cultural norms.

The Daily Graphic also hopes that people will use the occasion to show love to the vulnerable and the less fortunate in society.
We wish all a Happy Chocolate Day.