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VALENTINE’S DAY- BEHIND THE SCENES

Hello everyone, we all are welcomed in the month of love and romance. I know couples are busy in choosing their gifts for 14th February. I have something for you all to know before my sisters choose their final shade of lipstick and my single brothers’ hook themselves up with depression and start sharing “anti-valentine” posts on social networking sites. We have time and again heard about St. Valentine being uttered before us in this season of love. But who is this St. Valentine?? Why is this month associated with love and romance?
THE DARK ORIGINS OF 14 TH FEBRUARY:
Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate romance, love and kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody and a bit muddled. Though it was a bit difficult to gather and pinpoint the exact origin of this day. I think one good place will be to start with the Romans.
Those wild and crazy Romans:
(Photo: Google pics)
From February 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. Men both used to sacrifice a goat or any other domestic animal as such and then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain. The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of young women from a jar. The match would then be coupled up for the rest of the festival or longer if the match was right.
The story of St. Valentine has two different versions- the protestant and the Catholic one. Both versions agree upon Saint Valentine being a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in opposition to Emperor Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men. He believed that marriage made the men weak. So he issued an edict forbidding marriage to assure quality soldiers. By realizing the injustice of the decree, St. Valentine performed many secret marriages for young lovers. As Valentine refused to agree with the emperor regarding the ban of marriage, he was put in prison. Meanwhile, Valentine fell in love with Asterius’ (a jailor) blind daughter during his imprisonment. However, this legend is not given much importance by historians. The most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not centred on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion. Valentine is believed to have been executed on February 14, 270AD.
Role of Literatures:
(Photo: Google pics)
As the years went on, the day grew sweeter. It was Chaucer and Shakespeare who romanticized 14th Feb in their work and it gets popularized throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of “Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine” credits Chaucer as the one who first linked St. Valentine’s Day with romance. Hence, Chaucer used the image of birds as the symbol of lovers in poems dedicated to the day. In Chaucer’s “The Parliament of Fowls”, the royal engagement, the mating of the birds, and St. Valentine’s Day are related: “For this man on St. Valentine’s day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate”. 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. Hallmark Cards of Kansas City began mass producing valentines. Today, the holiday is a big business: According to the market research firm IBIS World, Valentine’s Day reached $17.6 billion last year.
And so the celebration of Valentine’s Day goes on, in varied ways. Many will break the bank buying jewellery and bouquets for their beloveds. Others will celebrate in a SAD (Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and bringing on self-gifted chocolates. But guys trust me you don’t need a single particular day to make your beloved feel special, it’s always about the moments spent together and not the gifts that stay forever. Gifts are just materialistic things and I think we shouldn’t crowd in the gift shops only for Valentine’s Day; it can also be one among the remaining 364 days as well. Thank you for reading this and don’t forget to drop a comment about your plan for Valentine’s Day.
~ Suchita Biswas

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