Some sweet Valentine’s facts
JENNIFER WILSON | OUR TOWN TEMPLE
Valentine’s Day. A day of love, romance, and another excuse for buying festively wrapped, fun-sized chocolates claiming they are for someone else when you have every intention of scarfing them down yourself. But just exactly how did we come to celebrate this sweet day?
As you probably know, Valentine’s Day is named after St. Valentine, but did you know there was more than one? Turns out, the Catholic church sainted three guys, and each man’s groupies claim the holiday was named after him. The true saint has been lost to the ghosts of history. Luck was not kind to any of these men, either. They were all martyred by beheading.
Lupercalia was a pagan fertility festival celebrated in early February by the Romans, and it can be traced back to the 6th century B.C. I’d rather not mention the festivities, but I can assure you they were not trading greeting cards. Suffice it to say, most of the activities would now be felonies. Hoping to make the celebration a little more PC, in the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I merged St. Valentine’s Day and Lupercalia. Christians summarily booted out the paganism, and the new holiday quickly spread. Believe it or not, Shakespeare had a helping hand in shaping the more modern holiday, equating it with sweetness and romance.
As the New World was settled, Christians brought the holiday with them, and the Victorians really outdid themselves in terms of sentimentality. The first mass-produced cards entered the fray in the 1840s and sending elaborately decorated and overly saccharine cards to a significant other was the custom du jour. But the Victorians weren’t above throwing a little shade. Bothered by an unwanted suitor? You could send them a “vinegar Valentine.” One such card read, “To My Valentine: ‘Tis a lemon that I hand you and bid you now skidoo. Because I love another, there is no chance for you.” Ouch
Is it any wonder that around this time that chocolate became a popular Valentine’s Day gift? After years of struggling, Richard Cadbury came up with the idea to sell fancy chocolates in small, decorative boxes. The boxes were small works of art, and the Victorians would cut out the pictures and preserve them in scrapbooks or decorate a homemade Valentine with them. The boxes and chocolate became wildly popular. Other companies followed suit, and today you can find a box of Valentine’s chocolates decorated with everything from a custom portrait of your mother to the Mandalorian.
Whatever little love token you prefer to give or receive, there is no doubt you will have some type of encounter with Valentine’s Day official mascot: Cupid. Now, personally, I’ve always found Cupid to be a little creepy. If a baby-sized, flying individual, replete with pompadour, started chasing me with a bow and arrow…Let’s just say there would need to be an open call for a new mascot.
The original Cupid can be traced back to 700 BC, and he was known as Eros. He wasn’t a creepy cherub either. This man was considered to be the ultimate handsome heartthrob, he had more power than any god. Apparently, around the 4th century BCE, the powers that be grew intimidated of Mr. Eros. As the social status of women in Athens fell, Eros became increasingly linked to his mother, Aphrodite. Since a woman controlled his every move, mortals had no reason to fear him. Emasculated forever, Eros, now Cupid was constrained by his mother’s wishes and his only power was the ability to cause two people to fall in love.
This all makes perfect sense. Ladies, would you rather be chased around by your ideal handsome heartthrob or some eerie little flying baby? I think we all know the answer to this, and the men of the day did too. In my unprofessional opinion, this is why Valentine’s Day is, by and large, a holiday for the ladies. In order to prove he is still worthy of her affections and love, her significant other must shower her with cards, chocolates, flowers, and romance. If he fails, he knows there is always a handsome heartthrob who would happily take his place.
Peak sightings of this annual phenomenon can be viewed at any grocery store, flower or gift shop on Feb. 14 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!!