The Legend of Valentine's Day

Like most many modern celebrations, the origin of Valentine's Day can be traced back to Pagan times. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a day honouring Juno, the Goddess of women and marriage as well as Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses.

The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia, a festival of love honouring Juno. Love lotteries were an important component of the celebration which took place on the eve of the festival. The names of girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Young men would draw a girl's name from the jar making these two partners for the duration of the festival. Even though these participants weren't yet called by the name, these early Romans were in fact the first Valentines.

Of course, the early Christians frowned on such erotic activities. Despite their best efforts, the church's attempts to convince celebrants to substitute the names of saints for would be lovers was not met with much enthusiasm, especially since the participants were encouraged to emulate their chosen patron saint's virtues for the coming year. Instead the church settled for toning down the nature of Lupercalia from eroticism to romance.

Saint Valentine or Valentinus, who had been martyred on February 14th 269 A.D., proved a convenient symbol around which to fashion this new celebration of romance. While evidence suggests the saint was himself a chaste man, legend has it he defied Emperor Claudius II by secretly marrying countless couples, a practise the emperor had banned believing that marriage weakened his army. Eventually Claudius caught on and the good saint was condemned and beheaded. Another legend has it that Valentinus has befriended his jailer's daughter during his imprisonment. He left her a farewell letter signed (as you may have guessed) "From Your Valentine".

In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine, who became the patron saint of lovers and gradually, February 14 became a day for exchanging love messages and simple gifts. The practice of lottery drawings to select Valentines persisted well into the eighteenth century, but a gradual shift took place in which the gift giving became the sole responsibility of the man. This marked the beginning of the end and the practice eventually disappeared as individuals were at last free to select their own Valentines.

In 1969, Pope Paul VI dropped it from the calendar.

However, the blend of Roman festival and Christian martyrdom had caught on, and Valentine's Day is here to stay.

Manufactured Valentine cards didn't appear until the end of the eighteenth century. The Victorians took their cards to elaborate lengths, trimming them with lace, silks and satins; embellishing them with special details like feathers, flowers, golf leaf, hand painted details and even sweetly perfumed sachets.

Until the mid-1800's, the cost of sending mails was beyond the means of the average person, and the recipient, not the sender, was expected to pay the cost of mailing. It wasn't until the advent of the penny post that the modern custom of sending Valentine's cards really gained critical mass.

Today, Valentines Day is the second most popular occasion for sending greeting cards, only surpassed by Christmas.

For most of us, Valentine's Day is a day when we actually make an extra effort to show appreciation to those we cherish.

It is also a day to slow things down, reflect and take heed of the important people in our lives.

Some of you may have planned ahead in time on what to get your loved ones during this auspicious day.

Others may still linger and think of what to do during this day.

A little effort goes a long way to making Valentine's Day a special time for you and your loved ones.

Whatever you do, remember to proclaim your love and affection for each other and mean it from the bottom of your heart.

Nevertheless, Valentine's Day is more than just a day for lovers.

It is also a time to celebrate the true meaning of friendship and loyalty.

As tradition goes, the purpose of Valentine's Day is to celebrate each other's company.

So, from me here, "Happy Valentine's Day to you, dear friends!"


A SAD STORY
Valentine's Day Story

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting, reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address she lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and in one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7.00 PM he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

A young woman was coming towards me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutanant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are."