Tuesday 14 February 2012

Valentine's Day!

So I got my wife a rockstar gift...but I can't tell you want it is because I haven't given it to her yet.  In fact she doesn't even know I got her a gift.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Check back tomorrow and I'll let you know what it is.  You may not think it's amazing, but I know she'll love it!

But on a larger scale...what do you think of Valentine's Day?  Being a history buff, I like to look into the origins of things, to see why we celebrate what we do.  However, it appears that Valentine's Day is the one day (the only one?  I'm not sure) whose origins no one actually knows for sure.  Here's a brief history lesson.

For us Christians, the most honourable Valentine's Day origin - and actually the one that appears to be the most common in general - is St. Valentine, a Christian who was put to death for refusing to deny his faith.  How that actually relates to Valentine's Day is unclear.  There are also claims that Valentine's started as a Roman celebration called 'Lupercalia,' and it was Pope Gelasius in 496AD who switched Lupercalia into Valentine's Day to celebrate St. Valentine.  Finally, apparantly the Catholic Encyclopedia says there were actually three saints named Valentine, who were all martyred on February 14th.

Whatever the origins are, Valentine's Day has morphed into the commercialized dealio it is today.  Some love it, some can't stand it.  But if we can get past that, I think at the root of it is something beautiful - showing the one you love just how much you love them.

Now all that being said - if you celebrate Singles Awareness Day, then Happy Singles Awareness Day to you!

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