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valentine's day
a brief history
by donna whitehouse
Are
you thinking about writing a love note to your sweetie on February
14th? Well, you will be in good company since an estimated one billion
valentine cards are sent each year, according to American Greetings.
That statistic makes Valentine’s day the second most popular card
sending holiday, with Christmas being number one at 2.6 billion.
Furthermore, about 85% of the Valentine cards are sent by women. Go
figure. (Is it because we are more romantic, or just more expressive
and considerate?) |
So,
how did it all get started? It turns out that Valentine’s Day has
historical rSoots in both Christian and pagan traditions, like so many
other holidays we celebrate. Doing a search for the history of
Valentine’s Day will lead you to at least 2 early Christian
martyrs, St Valentine of Rome and St Valentine of Terni. (My research
began with every surfer’s go-to guide, Wikipedia,
spiraling outward in all sorts of juicy directions). However, no
romantic elements are present in the early Medieval biographies of
either. According to an article by Jack Oruch, the first recorded
association of romantic love with Valentine’s Day is by Geoffrey
Chaucer in Parlement of Foules.
Some
scholars believe that the Catholic Church may have decided to celebrate
Valentine’s Day in the middle of February in an effort to
“christianize” the pagan Lupercalia festival. Lupercalia
was a fertility festival in honor of the she wolf who suckled the
fabled founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. An order of Roman priests
called Luperci, would sacrifice 2 goats and a dog, then dress boy
participants in the skins. The boys would then run around the city,
slapping women and crop fields with goatskin strips, which were
believed to instill fertility. Far from being fearful, the Roman women
welcomed being touched with the hides. According to legend, later the
same day, the young women would place their names in an urn to be
paired with the lucky bachelor who drew it from the pot.
So,
wherever your imagination leads you, don’t forget to show your
lover that you care this February 14th. A hand written love note is
much more personal than the standard greeting card, although there are
very beautiful cards out there. Chocolates are a traditional way to
show your affection, or better yet, make a romantic dinner for two.
(Recipe follows.) Of course, if you really want to show adventure and
spirit, you could invest in a goatskin hide, especially if your sweetie
is a Lupercalian scholar!
The
Menu
Appetizer: Oysters on the half shell with Mignonette sauce
Salad: Mixed Baby Greens with Asian Vinaigrette
Entree: Wild Mushroom Beef Tenderloin
Twice Baked Potato
Broccoli Rabe
Dessert: Bananas Foster
view recipes
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