Although poor, we are champions of love. In Albania, we are “liberated”; for love we celebrate in the midst of poverty and close to human warmth The Albanian way of celebrating Valentine’s Day has “liberated” the old courting phrases, as many feel how, for a few moments, Albanians are unable to show what they feel. Thus, on Sunday evening, many young people went out to kiss on Tirana’s main boulevard to mark Valentine’s Day. The poet is right to write that the more beautiful and difficult love is, the higher the devotion to it is. We have known this, and we still know it in Albania many years later. Young and old family members, as well as many children and their parents, took to the streets to share together this small and rare celebration. All the lovers swore before the cameras that this was the first time they had kissed in public. The rich and the poor came together in Tirana’s main square, giving life to a great symbol, strengthened by candles and flowers. p. 2 The rich and the poor are brought together by Valentine’s Day

The rich and the poor are brought together by Valentine’s Day Record number of kisses in Albania on February 14 Although poor, we are champions of love. In Albania, we are “liberated”; for love we celebrate in the midst of poverty and close to human warmth See further on p. 11

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