Let’s Have Some Fun!!
A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:
a) A priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14?
b) A Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II
c) Someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer’s daughter, and was probably beheaded?
d) All, some, or possibly none of the above?
The “Many” Origins of St. Valentine’s Day
- The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
- While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
- Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.
Did You Know?
Another origin of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody. 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, by actually hitting them.
Every wonder why this day is spelled, “Valentine’s” Day – as if it belonged to someone…
Every year just before February 14th, men and boys go out and purchase cards, chocolate, handbags, and perfume, while the women and girls go and purchase male cologne, watches, and cards for their husbands, wives, or significant other. The flavor of the color red and love reverberates through the mall, the theater, and restaurants. Mother’s get the proverbial Valentine Day Card and Red Roses while dad’s get a card and a tie.
Later….
A young woman waits patiently for a box, or at least, hoping her dreams will come true on this day – with a box from “Jared”. Then there is the other young lady that is most assuredly in love with her beau, yes he called her that morning, to tell her how much he loves her and is looking forward to spending time with her. On the other hand, there is that loving couple that rented a lover’s suite the night before had breakfast in bed and at checkout time, they part ways. You know whom I am referring to, the other woman, the chick on the side, the number two, second only to number one and the other four. She paces the floor, she calls her other girlfriends who are busy with their arrangements or they are not answering the phone because they are on a date; she has checked her phone 23 times in hopes that the volume has been turned off to “mute” or not working on both the phone ringer and the text messaging features. She sits at her computer checking her Facebook Messenger to see if there is a message she missed, praying it will read something like this; “Hey bae, I dropped my phone in the water while shaving, but I’m on my way.” She desperately wants to exhale by reading a message that validates her belief that he really cares.
No message, no text, no missed voice mail, no Facebook ringtone, its 10:00 pm and there’s no him either. Finally, Monday at 6:00 pm he has the most insane ridiculous reason for not participating in the festivities of “Love-for-a-Day”, he says – Girl you know I love you every day, why is this day any different?
Just a Thought….
If you loved “YOU” a little more, “YOU” would not be waiting for someone else’s man to call “YOU” on time, or pretending “YOU” did not know he had a “real” girlfriend and you are the one on the side. Perhaps if you understood why a little, red, shabby, broken, cross will mean so much more to you than all the bling-bling you might find at your doorstep on February 15th.
MsConcerned
