Today, the U.S. (and other countries as well) celebrate Valentine's day, but what do we really celebrate? Love? Friendship? Relationships? This is what Wikipedia had to say:
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day,is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
To me, this seems more as a Hallmark made up holiday, another excuse to shop and spend money (usually on credit, driving us into further debt) on things that would more than likely wind up contributing to the excessive pollution we produce. Yet, does this holiday make us happier? Does it promote more love amongst each other?
I hardly think so. I visited the mall and observed the way that people frantically shop last minute for their loved. The lines at See's Candy and Godiva were out the door. The restaurants had a minimum waiting time of one hour, at 4:30pm!!
I must say I enjoyed watching the way other people react to the pressure to celebrate and conform to this "holiday" while I once again, refused to celebrate it, in the conventional way. Instead, I chose to do what I do everyday, show my love in the everyday actions. :)
You left out the story of St. Valentine:
ReplyDeleteThere is an additional modern embellishment to The Golden Legend, provided by American Greetings to History.com, and widely repeated despite having no historical basis whatsoever. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved,[16] as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed,[17] or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."
What the story does not tell you is that the person who made up this story was named Harry Hallmark>
They left out the part of the story where St. Valentine gave his beloved little candy hearts with catchy sayings on them.
Thanks for your comment on my Valentine's Day blog entry...I agree with you. Showing love through everyday actions is the way to go!
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