Valentine’s cheese instead of roses this year

I have always disliked Valentine’s Day (which is called “Lovers’ Day” in Turkey). I did not like this day even when times were better in the country. What is this teddy bear, for Pete’s sake? If you are old enough to have a lover then what exactly are you doing with a teddy bear?

Even the West, which has made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, has been snorting at it in the past years.

 They even came up with a concept called “Galentine’s Day,” which is based on a sitcom. Western girls go out with their close girlfriends and have fun on Feb. 14. As anyone who has watched “Sex and the City,” would know that romantic relations in the West have started rattling. The single and the lonely have multiplied, moved from the edges and are now sitting at the center of the society. And now, the romance era surrounding this special day is over. They are now celebrating this day, girls apart and men apart, as a day out for best friends. 

When we come to our own society and its sensitivities, I think we should think it over these days whether or not the lovers’ day is legitimate or whether it fits our social norms. As a matter of fact, it looks quite suspicious; the persons in question are lovers. Not engaged or married, but just lovers. Since they are lovers, we have to know if they are serious. Have they put on a ring, have they met the parents? Thus, this Lovers’ Day is openly illegitimate; it is against our social norms. I don’t approve of it. 

What? We should all acclimatize. Institutions, celebrations, special days, we, the people, we all should adapt to the atmosphere. This is a theory; whoever cannot adapt, will not survive. Look what happened on New Year’s Eve. If the Valentine’s Day wants to survive in this country, then it has to play with our new rules.
As always, advertisers were the first ones to adapt. One can feel the shyness, some kind of embarrassment stemming from our dark mood, from our troubled sociology in this year’s Valentine’s Day ads. 

There is a search, one can feel, in the scripts so as to give the message “Look we say they are lovers but they will surely get married, they are already engaged.” The stories are about married couples buying gifts for each other, celebrations with a lot of kids in the family, etc. We are in some kind of search for acceptance, like, “We are saying they are lovers but no, it is never an indecent premarital relationship. It is for people who love each other, for instance your love for your aunt, sister-in-law and brother-in-law are perfect occasions to buy a gift for them on this day.” 

On the other hand, the economic situation is not too bright. Thus, even if we had the mood, we do not have the means. Thus, brand new gift ideas are emerging that do not upset the budget. Jewelers are trying hard but I give more chance to colored socks with hearts on them. Coffee chains have produced coffee cups with crystal stones. It goes very nice with the mood “We cannot drink; we cannot go out at night with the girls, but we can drink coffee during the day and hold hands; so this coffee mug is the best gift ever, without hurting my budget.” Custom made cakes and cookies are everywhere. If you are a creative and thrifty gentleman, you buy the cake, take your wife/lover to a tea garden, order two cups of teas, you may also present a pair of socks, and finish the special day with 10 or 15 liras in total.  

A cheese brand has produced heart-shaped cheese with plastic wraps which has red ribbons and says, “To my dearest love.” If this is a Valentine’s Day present, I don’t know if our girls will buy this, but men might. Especially if you say “I will make grilled cheese sandwich or mac and cheese with this,” then they might. 

We, of course, do not know what kind of a relationship there is between these couples. I would not want to write an immoral article. Look, every special day should be celebrated according to the socioeconomic state of the country and its customs and traditions, so don’t overdo it. I guess the best Valentine’s Day gift would be heart-shaped cheese for the aunt, the niece, son-in-law, sister-in-law and maybe some pot of flowers. 

What more do you want other than making some spaghetti and spreading your grated Valentine’s Day gift over it in the shape of a heart and watch TV, what else?