Sea of red in Saudi shops – but don’t mention Valentine’s

RIYADH (AFP) – Red clothing and underwear are displayed in Saudi shopfronts, but the increasingly popular Valentine’s Day promotions are missing one thing: the festival’s name.

While sales surge and Valentine’s gifts become more common among the youthful Saudi population, the word “Valentine’s” is nowhere to be seen.

”Management has asked us to decorate the window display with red lingerie... but without mentioning anywhere Valentine’s Day,” said one salesperson at a Riyadh mall, who did not want to be named as she was not authorized to speak to media.

The displays represent change in Saudi Arabia, where stick-toting religious police once cracked down on sales of Valentine’s Day paraphernalia and even on people wearing red during the Feb. 14 festival. Valentine’s Day has vague origins dating back to Roman times, when several Christian martyrs were named Valentine.

The celebration for lovers, marked widely around the world, was firmly off-limits in the ultraconservative kingdom, which would only mark Muslim holidays and its September national day. But Saudi Arabia has been undergoing social change as it attempts to present a more appealing image and diversify its oil-dependent economy.