[Wikipedia-l] Re: Valentine's day!

[Tony Sidaway]

Arwel Parry said:
> In message <849f98ed05020914363e274be7 at mail.gmail.com>, Mark Williamson
>  <node.ue-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> writes
>>Not to spoil your fun, but unlike Christmas there is a much more
>>international greeting for the same holiday (Valentine's Day) that is
>>much less likely to alienate or offend others.
>>
>>There is no way to say "Happy valentine's day" in O'odham
>>(Pima/Papago) or Piipaash (Maricopa) or Xalychidoma (Halichidhoma)
>>without sounding extremely strange and perhaps overly religious - it is
>>definitely non-traditional and not all speakers of these languages
>>(well, at least O'odham) know what it is.
>
> Indeed. It's a cultural thing -- even in Europe, I'm not sure how we'd
> say it in Welsh as our equivalent is St Dwynwen's Day (25th January).
> We  had plenty of our own saints and had no need to import Roman ones!

Hmmm, nice idea smashes into bedrock of cultural diversity.  I suggest
that unless there is substantial willingness to set up a Wikipedia
tradition of celebrating Diwali, Eid, Guru Nanak, Beltain, Chinese New
Year, and whatever, in multiple languages, it's probably best to steer
clear of this kind of thing altogether.