St Valentine's Day

When writing this blog, it unfortunately for me made me look back on the last 39 years of my life and realising I had never celebrated Valentines day. So even though so far this year I had been keeping depression at bay, I am in a really bad place now. Oh well such is life right. Walking down the street, nearly every shop is advertising to buy something special for your loved one, or your Valentine. The cost of roses goes up, and chocolate and smoochy cards are everywhere, romantic get aways for 2 are made to look appealing. This is the way we now see Valentines day. If you don't have someone in your life to be your Valentine, you are classed as an outcast. You put up with people rubbing what they received in your face, it's not a great time of year to be single. Well lets face it no time is but the 14 February is a lot worse.

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. 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. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.

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.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. the Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni ( Valentinuse ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed inb Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.

No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14Th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni was utterly lost.

In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from him name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14." The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar. February 14 is also celebrated as St Valentine's Day in other Christian denominations; it has, for example, the rank of 'commemoration' in the calendar of the Church of England and other parts of the Anglican Communion.

Not sounding to much like romance to me...............Yet

The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parliament of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer wrote:

"For this was on seynt Volantynys day, Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make." ("For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.")

This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard 2 of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2 1381. (When they were married eight months later, they were each only 15 years old).

Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saint's day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD307.

Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18Th-century antiquaries, notable Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present.

It seems that in one shape of another all over the world Valentine's Day is celebrated. Were these Saints the course of everyone going all gooey on February 14, or that one little poem by Chauser? Who knows.

Once again through out the ages, the meaning of one simple day has been lost. However who really cares about the true meaning of Valentine's Day? That answer is simple. No one, because the true meaning will never be known, it has been lost through the ages.

I'm a simple kinda girl, and my idea of a night out is no kids, Chinese and a couple of beers and DVDs. I don't think we should just take one day out of the year to let someone know how we feel about them. I don't think we need to spend shit loads of money on that someone special to show them that we love them. Everyday we should make the one we love feel special, we should try and keep the flame alive everyday. I'm a simple girl, and to me simple is better. Whatever and whoever you choose to be your Valentine this year, make sure you let them know in someway how much you love and appreciate them. Remember it takes 2 to make a relationship work, and we need to work at it. Don't take your partner for granted, and you don't have to spend a lot on them. Make a card, write a love poem, run them a bath or cook them a meal.

And for those singles or couples who are part of the norm now and have meet online, if you are apart from the one you love, then at least spend some time talking to them, and hey why not just come out right and ask them to be your Valentine or sometimes just saying "I LOVE YOU" is all it takes.

To everyone who has someone to be their Valentine, I wish you a very happy Valentine's Day :). Please remember that everyone wants to be loved.