Parents Worship Day is taking over Valentine’s Day on Twitter: What is it all about?

We all know the hype around Valentine's Day but this year, some Indians on Twitter seem to be going the other way by marking Parents Worship Day.

Currently, #HappyParentsWorshipDay is trending on Twitter with most people tweeting about loving your parents instead of celebrating the love for partners. The emphasis seems to be on cultural values and how important those are to our Indian heritage, reviving familial bonds and saying thank you to the people who have brought us up.

Most of the tweets with the hashtag speak of these pure qualities that are far from the love and lust February 14 has come to be associated with. And essentially, Parents Worship Day comes as a reprimand to all this other 'shameless behaviour'. It's against our culture. Therefore.  

Twitter users are also 'correcting' those who are tweeting about Valentine's Day and not about their parents.  

But what is Parents Worship Day actually?

Parents' Worship Day, known as Matru Pitru Poojan Diwas and was started by the Indian spiritual leader Sant Asaram Bapu in 2007 as an alternative to Valentine's Day and is celebrated on 14 February every year.

The first Parents Worship Day was celebrated on February 14, 2007 at Sant Shri Asharamji Gurukul in Ahmedabad. According to The Hindu, Chhattisgarh has been celebrating Matru-Pitru Pujan Diwas since 2012, on the advice of Asaram Bapu. And it is officially celebrated by the Chhattisgarh Governemtn in schools and colleges as ordered by Chief Minister Raman Singh.

As Wikipedia succinctly puts it - "Matru Pitru Poojan Diwas, also called Matra Pitra Pujan Divas, is a festival celebrated by children from all religions where they worship their parents and seek their blessings by offering them tilak and garlands."

"It is seen by many as a method to cement the bond between family members and to imbibe good values like respect, obedience and humility in children. Right wing activists claim that it is an alternate method to counter teenage pregnancy."

Well. Now you know. February 14 is about love. So go ahead, express it to whoever you want.