Valentine’s Day, often referred to as Val’s Day, is a celebration observed on February 14 each year. It’s a day people express their affection and love for one another through gestures like giving gifts, sending cards, or spending quality time together.
It’s named after Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr who is associated with love and romance.
While it’s traditionally a day for couples, many people also celebrate by showing appreciation for friends and family. TIGPost went on the streets to sample the perspectives of Ghanaians on how love is expressed in their various tribes and ethnic groups. This is a taste of love brewed in Ghana! Enjoy!
A Fante woman’s perspective
Maame Aba, said Fantes like her love to cook. As such, they love to express their love by cooking for their loved ones.
“Fante women love cooking so that is one of the ways we show love to our families and our significant others. And we also love words of motivation like telling you ‘you’re beautiful,’ ‘you are doing well so keep it up’ and we are also just caring. We are serviceable as well.
“Generally, we want to make sure you’re okay, find out if you need any assistance, very helpful. We always want to assist if you need any help,” she said.
A Ga woman’s perspective
Naa Quaye, a Ga, also said expressing love ‘the Ga way’ is no different from how other ethnic groups in Ghana do. She said the people of Ga love surprises and love it when their significant others express their love by surprising them with gifts and others.
“So among the Ga people, we love surprises. If you love someone, one way you can express it is by buying the person gifts and providing the needs of the person because like i said, we love surprises,” she said.
A Sandema woman’s perspective
Sandra Balami hails from Sandema, situated in the Upper East Region. According to her, the people of Sandema are known for their remarkable generosity and penchant for expressing affection through acts of kindness.
“The people of Sandema are very generous. We love expressing love by giving to others; so we cook and give some to our neighbors, we gift people goats, foodstuff, and others and I think this has really impacted me in a way.
“So on Val’s day I’ll get you [my partner] a thoughtful gift, it could be anything at all – a watch, clothes, shoes – or anything. We could go out, sit somewhere and spend some quality time together,” she said.
A Bolgatanga man’s perspective
Benard Atanga, also from Bolgatanga in the Northern region, said people from where he hails from, express their love by gifting items to loved ones and going out as well. He said he would prefer to climax the day with a romantic night out with their partner.
An Akuapem woman’s perspective
“Akuapems love showing off. They are the type who can announce to everyone that ‘this is my husband’ or ‘this is my wife.’ They really like showing off and on a day like this, my mum [an Akuapem] would throw a party for my dad. She would also prepare a special meal for him,” Akua Asabea recounted.
A Kwahu man’s perspective
As an Akan precisely from Kwahu, Kwasi Odame, said: “We find difficulty in showing love to our loved ones even though we love them dearly. Mostly we show love by providing everything our loved ones love. But for affections, we hardly show them.”