Jordan: Bloggers Reflect on Valentine’s Day · Global Voices
Mohammad Azraq

Bloggers’ reflections on Valentine's day in Jordan varied between wishes for a happy day, and raising important issues about the holiday. Here is what some of them had to say….
Eye on Jordan posted a picture of a donkey painted red in the northern city of Ramtha in celebration of Valentine's Day, and writes:
Viewpoints on the anniversary differ among people from all walks of life.
In the Ramtha district, 80 kilometres to the north of Amman, the celebration of the event was different this year as residents of Ramtha celebrated the event by painting a donkey red and placing it in the city centre for passers-by to see.
One of those who took part in painting the donkey was Ahmad Zu’bi, who said: “We painted the donkey with red to celebrate the event to show how ridiculous it is as if there is only one day to express love throughout the year.
The Diary Sequel wished everyone a happy Valentine's Day, and encouraged girls not to play monopoly with boys:
My late Happy Valentine's to all. I hope you all had a good one. I had a great one :)
I had an interesting pleasant and kind of funny day. Maybe I'll blog about it tomorrow if I'm not too lazy.
By the way girls, NEVER play Monopoly with boys….especially if you're good at it!
Hamzeh argued that only those who are not good at being in a relationship, would celebrate Valentine's and that a happy couple wouldn't:
Please think about it people, why would a happy couple bother celebrating valentine? I’ll tell you why, because they suck in relationships. They don’t know when or how to appreciate their relation, when or how to be passionate, when and how to fire it up and totally celebrate. That’s why, stupidly enough, they wait till flowers and roses prices are high so they mean something again,, crap! Happy couples don’t do valentine! Unless they break up on valentine :p
Siegex called for support to end violence against women on Valentine's Day:
Karama, Arabic for dignity, supports a regional movement to end violence against women and is led by women activists from eight sectors: politics, economics, health, art/culture, education, media, law, and religion. With headquarters in Cairo and a regional office in Amman, Jordan, V-Day Karama builds networks within and across Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, and Tunisia, providing a structure for activists in the region to come together and build the movement for women’s equity and rights.   The V-Day Karama Program head office supplies training, funding, and ongoing support to these diverse women’s networks. Multinational conferences and forums take place annually to serve as vehicles for fundraising, visibility, and inspiration.
And kinzi raised an important point about the common perception of the holiday amongst Muslims in Jordan that it is Christian, and therefore Muslims should not celebrate it:
In it’s current form and practice, anyway, there is no religious connotation. Sure, there is some historical background, but nothing worth stomping roses over.
Lil Kinz came home sad from school. She had asked her dad to bring back Valentine’s Day cards for her classmates, and then carefully wrote out the names of her friends. She was excited to pass them out today.
She came home to say that a little boy told the other kids they couldn’t take them because they were “Christian”. Those who received them he took and ripped up, he even took them away from the Christian kids. We had the little discussion about rudeness being a state of all humanity, but I can see the wheels turning in her little mind.
Just in case anyone is wondering, these weren’t ’stealth’ Christian Valentine’s cards with a hidden evangelistic message. They were from Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.
Ya salaam.