Valentine’s Day Legend and History

 

Valentine’s Day. Every February 14, gifts and nice promises are exchanged between lovers, all in the name of St. Valentine. 

 

But who was this romantic saint, and where did these traditions come from?

 

An old Roman legend says that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. Then, the Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives, Valentine rebelled and started to marry people secretly.

Of course, when Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius II ordered that he be put to death… Poor man! However, since people were so thankful to him, they started to build altars in his honor and place presents there. “From your Valentine” the dedications said, and expression still very popular on February 14.

Thus, Saint Valentine started to be a beloved saint and by the Middle Ages, he was one of the most important saints in France and England.

Of course, there are other legends about the romantic saint and not all of them of Christian origin. Some historians claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s celebration in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize the pagan celebration of Lupercalia.

It was celebrated at the ides of February (on February 15). Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. Since gods and goddess of agriculture as always been associated to fertility, these days rituals of fertility were made and these matches often ended in happy marriage.

Anyway, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century in Europe and America. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for lovers of all social classes to exchange small presents or handwritten notes. By 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology.

Today, all around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between romantic lovers.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Yareah magazine readers.

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10 Ways to Start an Affair During Valentine's Week

Whether you're skipping through the tulips this Valentine's day, are riding solo or somewhere in between... I want you to have an affair. 


That's right. This may sound shocking, coming from a wellness expert, but to be truly happy, you should definitely start a torrid love affair. The sooner, the better, in fact.

Regardless of your love/hate relationship status with Cupid, you can start a lifelong love affair today -- right this second, in fact -- with the only person who has never left you and will always be there for you, until the end.

This person is the One, your true soul mate, the perfect date, from this day forward. 

That person... is you.

 One of the Laws of Love states that you can only give or receive love to the extent that you can give and receive it to and from yourself.

Say you just met a great new guy or girl who showers you with love and attention. If you don't think you're enough, then the following things are likely to happen. See if any of them sound familiar:

1. They love you, yet you feel insecure, because ultimately you don't believe in yourself, so you don't believe them.


2. Instead of generating more love for yourself, you start demanding that they do it -- on your timeline and in the exact ways you need. 


3. When they don't/can't, you get upset, reactive and other not very attractive behaviors that keep this love-suffocating vicious cycle going. 


When we suffer from a lack of self-loving, we load responsibility onto others to be the perfect lover that they can never be. Everyone outside of you is, at best, a deeply-committed gift, not a lifeline. 

So start an affair-with-self and stop abandoning yourself, the true cause of so much of our so-called relationship anxiety.


10 Steps to Start Your Best Affair Ever

I offer these together with Feng Shui Master and cool guy Ariel Towne:

Ariel Says:

1. Be a solid one before you try to be a two: Don't be a leaky boat --someone who needs saving. Be your own knight in shining armor and then you can come to the relationship as the best guy or gal the world has to offer.

2. Go within: Use your journal. Observe things, places and relationships that inspire you. Fire up the Pinterest account and create a vision board. When you know what you like, you will be able to communicate that to others one day.

3. Do a cleanse: Get rid of things that don't serve the purpose of the bedroom. Lighten or remove technology altogether and go on a tech vacation. A bedroom should avoid reminders of how many emails you need to send or how much you "should" be doing. Get rid of gym equipment, a library of books or those tubs of extra clothes that make your bedroom feel like a walk-in closet.

4. Make your bedroom into a sanctuary: The bedroom should feel different than other parts of your life. On the bed, put extra-snuggly bedding or a body pillow. It's the room in which you want to relax, rejuvenate and re-connect to your source. Place everything in your bedroom on purpose and with purpose.

5. Spice things up: Make sure your bedroom is a juicy, yummy stimulant of all five senses. Make it look and feel like someplace you want to curl your toes. Create a space that you want to take off your clothes in: feel-good material for your skin, smells that turn you on, images that stir your passions and sounds of soothing, relaxation or tunes that move your soul.

Sadie Says:

6. Take Responsibility: It's up to each person to look after their own happiness. Think about how you feel when a partner isn't taking care of themselves but demanding that you do it. It doesn't feel good, and more than that, it doesn't work. It's fine to require that your partners treat you well. It's quite another to ask them to do it when you won't.

7. Date Yourself: I just returned from a great yoga class, then dinner at a neighborhood bistro while I brainstormed for this article. Make plans with yourself, at least once a week, and if it's a dinner date-with-self, make sure to get a great table -- and bring your journal. It's amazing what you'll discover when you pay attention to you.

8. Do It Daily: What you put in your body, whether material or energetic, is a direct statement of self-value. If you're eating like crap or obsessing about things you can't control, you get toxic. The rule is: If you wouldn't do it to someone you love, don't do it to yourself.

9. Get Another Job: Remember that other people's business is not your business. Your job is maintaining the space for your own self-empowerment. It's a full-time job being you, so it's high time to get back to the biz of being the best you you can be.

Lighten Up: Your affair should be fun. Do things with you that you like. The key to having a proper affair is to make sure that you love being with yourself as much or more than anyone else. Then you're free to give and love in return, knowing that, in the end, you lack nothing at all.

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Valentine's Day in Australia

VALENTINE’S Day is the perfect chance to show a loved one just how much you care about them. With its popularity increasing each year, more and more people are taking the time to show their significant other they care.

About 90 per cent of the people in the age group of 18-24 and 45 per cent of people above 50 are said to celebrate the day. People in Australia not only share the day with their partner, they also use Valentine’s Day to strengthen bonds of love with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Valentine’s Day has a history of extravagant celebrations in Australia. It is said that during the Australian gold rush period miners became extremely rich due to the new wealth found from the Ballarat Mines.

These miners ordered extravagant Valentines amounting to thousands of pounds at a time. Some of the most lavish Valentines were made of a satin cushion and were perfumed and ornately decorated with flowers and colour shells – something that is echoed in the gilded gift boxes and lavish chocolate selections

available at this time of year. Just as in several other countries, people in Australia celebrate Valentine’s Day by presenting cards and flowers to loved ones. While exchanging paper cards is a common way of greeting Valentine’s Day these days more and more people are using SMS and e-mail medium to express their love for loved ones.

Another popular option is a night out. Both men and women love time away from the house sharing a good meal and a wine or two. Recent surveys have revealed that men in Australia are more romantic and open about expressing their love than Australian women. Men in Australia buy more cards than women do – so this Valentine’s, it’s time for local ladies to up the ante.

While many may comment on the commercialism of Valentine’s Day – most see the day as the chance to take a moment or two to show a loved one they care.

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An Interesting Take on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, what a pain in the neck.

Why are we pressured to buy gifts, write poems, and declare our love for another?

Isn't a card with heartfelt sentiments good enough?

Even when our significant other gives us the ancient cliché, "You don't have to buy me anything," we know that's a hidden code for, "You better not forget me."

I guess to them, it's even more romantic if we buy a gift anyway even when we have been freed from all obligations.

Though it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the holiday originated, there are a few legends of the holiday's beginnings.

These legends are not completely verifiable, but they are common enough to at least have some degree of believability, so, here it goes.

The romantic side of Valentine's Day is said to come from Lupercalia, a Pagan festival of fertility, which was celebrated in the middle of our month of February.

This festival began with an animal sacrifice -- nothing says love like a dead animal.

After the sacrifice, the celebration continued with the ritualistic slapping of the young women with strips of the animal's flesh and blood -- ah, how romantic.

Around the fifth century, the church renamed this holiday as Saint Valentine's Day (thank heavens!).

Who is Saint Valentine? Who knows? The church canonized several Valentines, but the most accepted belief is of a Roman priest during the reign of Claudius the second.

Claudius kept his soldiers in the field for extremely long periods of time, and the soldiers became homesick.

So much so, that they became ill suited for battle. Therefore, Claudius banned the soldier and everyone else from the right of marriage.

Valentine found this unjust and married the people secretly.

When he was found out, he was arrested, jailed, and sentenced to death. While in prison, Valentine fell in love with his jailor's daughter. On the day he was executed, he slipped his love a note that was signed, "From your valentine."

Now, to the history of cards: Again, it is hard to pinpoint the exact origins of the cards.

In Rome, cards baring the names of young people were once collected and placed in an urn. On Valentine's Day, you would draw a card to see who your valentine was.

You would show your affection to them and would then give them gifts later in the year.

It can't be proven, but a card signed Amanda Huginkiss was mysteriously discovered at every drawing -- ha ha.

The cards later became a declaration of love to your significant other.

The cards could be quite elaborate and pictures of cherubs or Cupid, the Roman god of Love, were staples of the sentiments. The cards grew in craftsmanship and popularity when they became part of the Civil War soldier's stationary ration.

You can search vintage valentine's cards on the Internet to see the many good examples.

For our Valentine's Day, we can buy a card (if you're not imaginative enough to write a good letter), buy some chocolates (make sure it's her favorite chocolates, not yours), or pay triple the normal price for some roses (it means more to her if you buy flowers randomly throughout the year).

It's up to you, but like she said, "You don't have to buy me anything," especially if you want to spend Valentine's night on the couch.

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34 Million Roses for Valentine's Day

Lufthansa Cargo, one of the world's largest cargo carriers will be transporting more than 1,200 tonnes of roses for Valentine's Day this year. That amounts to the record number of around 34 million Valentine roses or 14 fully loaded MD-11 freighters.

Lufthansa Cargo aircraft are currently flying in roses from South America and Africa to the airline's hub in Frankfurt/Germany. The stopover at Frankfurt Airport is very brief. Within hours of landing, the roses are flown to consignees in Europe and beyond.

Among the major producers of fresh-cut flowers are suppliers in Kenya, Ecuador and Columbia, where the flowers are picked in the morning by rose producers and quickly transported to the airports. Lufthansa Cargo serves all three countries with frequent weekly freighter services. Such sensitive freight requires sophisticated transport solutions to ensure the roses look dewy fresh on Valentine's Day and for some days afterwards.

(Source: TravMedia.com 12th February 2011)