I love Valentine’s Day. Love it. What’s not to like? Chocolates. Flowers. Cards. Romantic Meals. Champagne. Sex. It’s all there. If given the opportunity, I’ll stuff myself to the point of sickness with See’s Candies or Ghirardelli squares. I’m secure enough to have my home littered with roses and tulips. They make a nice counterpoint to the piles of dirty dishes. And I grew up on Hallmark, even wanting to write for them at one point. There’s not a person out there who doesn’t at least smile at a card with a train on the front that says, “I choo…choo…choose you.” As for the elaborate dinners, I don’t even know where to begin. Everything is succulent and shaped like naughty parts. Which leads us to the bubbly. Nothing washes down a briny oyster like a glass of Veuve Clicquot. Marilyn Monroe used to bathe in champagne and the idea seems more appealing to me by the minute. Lastly, St. Valentine’s Day is about love, which makes girls amorous, which is a great thing for us boys.
Here’s just a little history on the subject (borrowed from another website):
For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.
In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.
Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius.
Claudius had determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.
During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since.
The other reason I love Valentine’s Day is that it is such an American holiday. We’ve turned the simplest message of love, “From your Valentine”, into the most commercial of occasions. Sure, people buy more presents and cards for Christmas, but at least they know why they’re doing it. Don’t get me wrong, the birth of Jesus is way too entwined with a fat guy sliding down your chimney, but Valentine’s Day is worse. I bet 99% of the population has no idea what the holiday was originally was about. And I bet more than half of the country if asked to describe St. Valentine would conjure up the image of Cupid. We’ve even exported our version of the holiday and now China and Japan have begun exchanging expensive chocolates on February 14th.
And yet I still have no desire to change it. Like I said, I love Valentine’s Day. Tonight I’m going to cook a romantic dinner. I’ve got a great bottle of sparkling pinot noir. I’ve got a bag full of gifts. Is it too commercial? Yes. But for one day a year, love rules. If you have to wrap up that sentiment in a card or bouquet, so be it. And it’s not just for couples. Tell your parents, siblings and friends what they mean to you. You can have more than one Valentine.
