SpeedRacer2
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Joined: August-14-2003
Location: United States
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| Posted: February-14-2012 at 5:11am | IP Logged
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It's Valentine's Day. For some it's a day of love and romance.
For many others, it's a reminder of the lack or loss of the
same. Most who read MountainWings are Christians. Not all, but
most are. It's interesting that none of the holidays that we
typically celebrate and spend time and money on as Christians
are Holy Days of the Bible. The real truth of our days is far
from the Holy Days.
This is the real truth of the origins of Valentine's Day. It's
not really all red, rosy and pretty but the truth often isn't.
It's one of those "other" types of MountainWings Moments. For
the half who longingly wish Valentine's Day was different this
year, this is for you.
The Origin of Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and
kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and
cupids are actually dark, bloody - and a bit muddled.
The Romans executed two men named Valentine on Feb. 14 of
different years in the 3rd century A.D. Though no one has
pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to
start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting
them.
Those Wild and Crazy Romans
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of
Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped
women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.
The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel
Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them,
Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young
men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then
be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival - or longer,
if the match was right.
The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our
modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men - both
named Valentine - on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd
century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church
with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day.
Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by
combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan
rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical
interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, "It was a
little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes
back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility
and love."
Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day.
Galatin meant "lover of women." That was likely confused with
St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound
alike.
William Shakespeare helped romanticize Valentine's Day in his
work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest
of Europe.
As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and
Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained
popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade
paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages.
Eventually, the tradition made its way to the New World. The
industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th
century. And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began
mass producing valentines. February has not been the same since.
Today, the holiday is big business: According to market research
firm IBIS World, Valentine's Day sales reached $17.6 billion
last year; this year's sales are expected to total $18.6
billion.
But that commercialization has spoiled the day for many. Helen
Fisher, a sociologist at Rutgers University, says we have only
ourselves to blame.
"This isn't a command performance," she says. "If people didn't
want to buy Hallmark cards, they would not be bought, and
Hallmark would go out of business."
And so the celebration of Valentine's Day goes on, in varied
ways. Many will break the bank buying jewelry and flowers for
their beloveds. Others will celebrate in a SAD (that's Single
Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted
chocolates. A few may even be spending this day the same way the
early Romans did. But let's not go there.
from npr.org
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day
__________________
If you can lay down at night knowing that you had made someone's life just a little bit better, then you know that you had a good day.
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