My friend, Keeli, was sitting in the booth with me for a while and as I was coming back I had said, "I just came up with a brilliant new blog idea...hating on Valentine's Day." By the look on her face, I got the seal of agreement.
Before I begin, if you like the holiday, good for you. I still dislike it. Don't hate on me for my opinion. :P
So here goes...
5 days until the dreaded Valentine's Day. As I said, bah humbug...I hate Valentine's Day. Yes, I do have a boyfriend whom I love dearly and who loves me back. I still hate the day, not because I spent most of my high school years alone but because it's a stupid pointless holiday in my opinion. No I'm not bitter, nor will I be a bitter old maid. On the contrary, I'm a hopeless romantic. There are certain things that just make me melt or swoon. Valentine's day is not one of them.
All it is at this point is a corporate holiday. Kinda like Christmas. Everybody goes out and buys the pink frivolous stuff without regard for the history and actual meaning of the holiday.
Somewhere, back in time, (guessing about 270 A.D.) on February 14, a man by the name of Valentine died from execution by Emperor Claudius II. What made him known as a saint was the fact that Valentine married people behind the emperors back. You see, men who were married did not want to go to war for Claudius, so he set in a law of young men could not marry so they could serve in the war. But this is just the legend of St. Valentine.
I'll admit Valentine was a sweet man. Now, it comes down to the history of the holiday itself. Some time after his death, the Catholic church decided to have his death date as a commemoration. (Really it was to "Christianize" the pagan festival to Lupercalia which was Roman festival representing fertility for people and crops). The Roman festival consisted of two part: 1 the men sacrificing an animal, usually a goat, then skinning that animal. With the hide, they would then whip the women. 2 The womens' names would be in this giant pot and thinking of it as a lottery (for those of you who know how that used to work) and the men would draw a slip of paper from the pot and for the rest of the festival they would be "fertility partners". Well, the women enjoyed being whipped so much that they would willingly put their names in the pot the next years.
Now how romantic was that! Valentine's day lovers, your holiday originated by masochists involved in a mass orgies.
On my final thoughts of the holiday, if you need one day to express how much you love someone, (again in my opinion) that is pretty sad. You should be showing them you love them everyday. I would say "I don't mean to brag..." but I'm going to, my boyfriend, Jeff tells me everyday that he loves me and that he's lucky to have me. He'll kiss me and hug and hold me. That how I know he does. I love him very much. I tell him that everyday as well. I hug, hold, and kiss him back. And that is how he knows that I love him.
Finally, done. So you all have a great rest of the week. Everyone you hold close and dearly, love them everyday and let them know it. Not just on that twisted day. :)
