Valentine's Day
by Mary Pier (Feb. '01)
I remember staring into the deep blue eyes of *Matthew, my first valentine, and swooning. What can I say? I was in kindergarten and in love; in fact, I was married! Matthew was my best friend back in those days. We spent every waking hour that we could together, so it was no surprise that we were together the weekend before Valentine’s Day. We had both cajoled our parents to let Matthew come over for a Saturday evening to play at my house. One activity that we sat down to do together was to finish writing our valentines for our kindergarten class. This was the time period where you gave valentines to everyone in your class and they came in those boxes with different themes like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, Barbie, and so on. Instead of filling out our valentine cards to everyone in our class, we wrote out all of out cards to each other. Aww.
That was my first Valentine’s Day memory and it has yet to be topped. But one might wonder where such traditions as card, flower, and gift giving on Valentine’s Day came from. One might also be surprised to find that the starting of these traditions was implemented by the Church.
Back in Roman times, February 15th was the date for the celebration of Lupercalia. This was a festival of eroticism that honored Juno Februata, the goddess of “feverish” love. Men and woman would pull names out of a hat to be paired for the festivities of sexual game playing. This “feast of flesh” was obviously a great no-no in the early Church at that time. The Church tried many angles to alter the sinful feast into a “ritual of romance.” One angle they took was to adopt St. Valentine as a spiritual role model and to change the date from the 15th to the 14th, which is St. Valentine’s feast day. St. Valentine was a priest in the third century, and according legend, ignored Emperor Claudius’ decree that no more marriages were to take place. Claudius had forbidden marriages because he believed that they cut down on his potential crop of soldiers. Valentine, viewing this as unjust, continued to marry people, and was caught in the act and sentenced to death. It is said that a girl, whom Valentine had healed of blindness fell madly in love with him and visited him every night in prison. Before his execution on February 14th, he sent a note to the girl and signed it “From your Valentine.”
From that point on, all of the eroticism and sexual game playing of “Valentine’s Day” was thrown out. Men and women then drew names to find their “valentine,” who they would exchange gifts with. Eventually the tradition changed so that just men gave the gifts, and instead of drawing names they selected their own valentine. The tradition and importance of the holiday took off from there. Valentine’s Day grew in popularity throughout the centuries. Purchasing Valentine’s Day cards became the most popular way to declare your love in the eighteenth century and the tradition of candy and flowers emerged later in the nineteenth. So this Valentine’s Day, when you receive a box of chocolates from your valentine, or are asking someone to be your valentine, remember that this was all made possible by the Church.
* name changed
Life Out There (Valentine’s Day)
by Nadia Lawand (Feb. ’02)
“The great acts of LOVE are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.” - Anonymous
What better time to talk about “great acts of love” than February, the very month of love and romance. For those of you who know me, you’re probably wondering when I’m going to start bashing Valentines, but this time I’m not going to. For so many years I boycotted Valentine’s Day because I thought it was a corporate holiday and nothing more. This year I decided to embrace this holiday. I even wish that every day could be Valentine’s Day. OK, maybe that’s going a bit too far, but just hear me out.
February marks the official month of love. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, stores are stocking up on jewelry, flowers, chocolates, greeting cards, and practically anything that says, “I love you.” We’ve all looked forward to Valentine’s Day at some point in our lives, and whether or not we want to admit it many of us have also been disappointed with Cupid’s arrow throwing abilities. Well, I can’t help but be skeptical about all the hype for Valentine’s Day. It just seems like the whole point of Valentine’s Day has gone down the drain along with all the money spent to satisfy our Valentine’s needs.
It would seem that Valentine’s Day has really changed into a corporate holiday that revolves around romantic love. So does that mean that everyone without a significant other is left out? Well according to that formula, yes! That’s where my ideas on Valentine’s Day come in. First of all Valentine’s Day should be a day of love, but not only romantic love. What about our family, friends and most of all, God? And why is it that must we restrict telling people we love them to one day out of the year? There are 364 other days of the year where we simply fly through life not taking time to tell those dearest to us that they mean a lot to us. I honestly don’t think that making an effort one day out of the whole year is going to make a difference – it’s what we do on the other 364 days that really matters.
In my opinion, the official Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be about chocolates, flowers, cards and romance. It should be about truly looking deep inside our hearts and telling our family, friends, significant others, and especially God that they mean a lot to us. Words and actions mean so much more than any object or amount of money. So on this Valentine’s Day think about all the people you care about, and remember that the greatest gift of all is the gift of love. So have a happy Valentine’s Day…everyday of the year!
Nadia Lawand is a first-year university student (equivalent to a sophomore) at Concordia University in Montreal.