About the Valentines Day
For hundreds of years Valentines Day has been celebrated every February 14th by lovers everywhere as a day for love, exchange of gifts, promises of eternal passion, and more. The inspired write poems inspired by their love and admiration for the women of their dreams while others just attend shops and buy commercially available verses.
Valentines Day means chocolates, candy, red hearts, perfume, flowers, balloons, and more. Have you ever wondered when the celebration first originated? Well in ancient Rome, February acclaimed the coming to spring a time for rejuvenation, fertility, and growth.
In ancient times, Romans celebrated in February a festival to honor the god of fertility who provided them with progeny and ensured a god crop. In Rome February 15th was celebrated as the feast of Lupercalla and Feb 14th as a holiday in honor of Juno the queen of Roman gods and goddesses. On the eve of Lupercalla a jar was filled to the brim with chits on which were penned the names of all eligible girls. Then young men would draw a chit each from the jar and the girl whose name was on the chit would be his partner for the celebration. This was a method by which ancient Romans introduced eligible boys and girls to one another.
Much later in the 3rd century BCE an Emperor named Claudius II was in power in Rome. He felt that marriage was a bad thing because it made poor soldiers out of men. So, he banned marriage from his empire. A priest named Valentine defied him and used to consecrate marriages secretly. He was sentenced to death and thrown into prison. While awaiting his execution Valentine wrote a letter to his love and signed it “from your Valentine.” After his death Valentine became a martyr and saint and was popularly known as St Valentine.
Wonderful legends are woven around Valentine’s Day. In Wales young people exchanged as gifts wooden spoons which were hand carved with decorations of hearts and key holes. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!" In other places women were given gifts of clothes and if they kept the gift then it conveyed that they were willing to marry the man who’s sent the gift.
Some people believed that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a yellowbird, she would marry a millionaire.
Since then with changing centuries and tastes the celebration has taken on new hues with young men and women, children, as well as older couples creating newer ways to celebrate and declare their undying love.
No matter what is true and what is myth, Valentines Day has become big business for the flower, card, and candy companies.
If your a man and have a wife or girlfriend, and you let Valentines Day go by without bringing her flowers or candy, your going to be in big trouble. If you are lucky enough to have someone who loves you on Valentines Day, then you should show him or her how much they mean to you.
Do it better than … ;-)
Jim Millar: Glasgow Valentines Day Gift
