Friday, February 12, 2016

My Take on Valentine's Day

I don’t believe that I have ever written about St Valentine before. Probably because I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, viewing it as another day for the greeting card manufacturers and flower growers to make an extra buck.

So where did Valentine’s Day come from? Was there a real person named Valentine and why did he become the patron saint of engaged couples, marriage and lovers?

No one seems to know for sure. Supposedly there was a real man named St Valentine and he is believed to have lived in the third century. There also were possibly three men known as St Valentine around this time, so who knows what to believe.

Whether true or not, the story about Valentine that I like the best and which seems to make the most sense when making him the patron saint of love is this one. The emperor was busy sending men off to war, which seemed to be quite popular even previous to that according to the many stories of war in the Bible. This required many able-bodied men, and it was thought that married men made bad soldiers because they didn’t want to leave their wives behind and they certainly didn’t want to die for the cause and never return to their beloved. So the king ruled that young men couldn’t get married. Along comes the priest Valentine who defied this order and began marrying young couples in secret. When he was found out, he was imprisoned and eventually executed.

There are a lot more stories, none of which have been proven. One such legend is that on the day he was to be executed (which was February 14, of course), Valentine sent a note to a girl who he had cured of blindness. The note was signed, “Your Valentine”, which is where the tradition of signing cards that way this time of year comes from.


I am somewhat of a curmudgeon when it comes to romance. Cards and roses are a waste of money. Going out to eat at a fancy restaurant is a waste of money and a waste of time. And who wants to get dressed up for dinner anyway when they can eat a bowl of cereal in their jammies on the couch? And if hubby is in his chair next to me and we are watching “The Princess Bride” for the hundredth time, that’s all the romance I need. 
Is there anything more sexy than a man in his chair with his cats? 

1 comment:

Denise said...

Dave is currently sitting in the chair with Claire. She loves him!!!! Totally agree on the flowers and expensive dinner in a restaurant although I have been known to have friends over for dinner here with games of course.