Most everyone in this country celebrate's Valentines's day, but they don't know anything about the person behind the holiday.
So, who was St. Valentine?
Did he really exist? What was he REALLY like?
The answer is yes. Almost all historians believe that St. Valentine did exist, but he wasn't a romantic figure like Rudolf Valentino, who I'm sure used the name as part of his own mystique.
"Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II."
On February 14th he was tortured and put to death because he wouldn't renounce his religion.
So, how on earth did this holiday come to represent hearts, flowers, and cupids?
Well, a blog that specializes in saints suggests that ....
"some believe the Romans had a mid-February custom where boys drew the names of girls in honour of the sex and fertility goddess, Februata Juno." Others feel the custom of greetings "stems from the belief that birds begin to pair on that date."
So now you have a little bit of history behind the holiday.
Share the love everyone and have a wonderful VALENTINE'S DAY!
What have you got planned for today? I WANT to know.....
Sources:
YAHOOO'S- THE BUZZ LOG by MIKE KRUMBOLTZ
Catholic Online: St. Valentine - Saints and Angels
Saints SQPN.com: Saint Valentine of Rome
40 comments:
And out of all that we got Valentine's Day! Well, he did die for something he loved...
Just planning a nice dinner at home and spending the evening with my wife.
As I said on Alex's blog, I hate Valentines day. It's not romantic having someone give you a present on a day the the media tell the whole world to. Is it? Romantic is doing such things on any old day for no apparent reason. Hmm ... or maybe I'm getting too over emotional about it for the sake of arguement ;o)
For some reason I thought he married people who weren't allowed to get married (there were silly rules in Rome at that time). I think I heard that somewhere, but I can absolutely not verify it.
Anyway, Valentine's Day has been invading Iceland over the past few years. It's a bit silly because three weeks ago we had "Bondadagur" (Husband day) and next Sunday (a week after Valentine's day) is "Konudagur" (Wife/woman day). Those two days are traditionally celebrated where the woman does something special for her husband/boyfriend on "husband day" (silly translation, but it's a direct one), maybe cook something special or buy him a gift, and the man does something special for his wife/girlfriend on "wife/woman day" (cook/flowers/gift/something). So, having THREE days to celebrate within such a short time is just too much, in my opinion. That is why although I think the idea of a Valentine's Day is romantic in countries who aren't already celebrating love on other days, I forbid my husband to buy me flowers (or anything) on Valentine's Day.
But I think it's totally cute that you blogged about Valentine's Day ^.^
Interesting. Thanks. Nothing special today. The hubs and I go to dinner, but usually not on Valentine's Day. Have a wonderful day!
We are headed to a Big Monday college basketball game!
Awesome post. We're ordering a heart shaped pizza. LOL
bethfred.com
That's very interesting, Michael. My hubby is cooking for seven females tonight, so it's not just us. He'll have my sister and her girls and me and the girls around him. Poor guy. He's a great sport though. I think of Valentine's Day as celebrating all love, be it husband/wife, parent/child, siblings, nieces, whoever. If I love you, you're getting a small Valentine gift from me.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you didn't see, participants (any genre) get to query Weronika even though she's closed to submissions - see my post for the deets on how to query her. :D
Valentine sacrificed it all for the love of his Savior. Which is the kind of love we're all supposed to have. :)
I love this post, Michael. I will fix dinner for the hubby. And then just relax and write myself a story. :)
Happy Valentines Day. xxxxxooooo
I wish Mr Valentine would have minded his own business. Too bad he never reaped some of the profits from the businesses that make money off this silly day.
Me? Not doing nothing. My wife and I had our V-day dinner on Friday, but we go out to eat a lot.
Lee
Tossing It Out
You know, in this country it's pretty much par for the course to talk about stuff in your life and participate in it without knowing anything about it. That's the American way. For example...I know tons of girls that compared Twilight to Romeo and Juliet. But when I asked them if they'd read Romeo and Juliet...they said no. So how could they even draw that comparison. So yeah...doesn't surprise me that Americans have no idea what V-day is all about. For them it's just another reason to feel put out if the significant other doesn't blow a ton of money.
Interesting... and once again, some Roman fertility celebration produces a holiday! :D LOL~ Happy V'day, Michael~
That's fascinating Michael, thank you! Love that kind of info. Personally, I'm going with 'the belief that birds begin to pair on that date.' Poetic.
Thanks for the history lesson, Professor Di Gesu. ;) I hope you have a lovely VD. Me, I have a coffee date w/ a reporter from the Kane County Chronicle - let's hope I don't sound like an idiot - and then I suppose I'll return home to be lavished with roses and other such things by the big H. Oh, I suppose I should probably cook something good for dinner, huh?
What an interesting history lesson. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Valentine heart shaped ribeye steaks at Publix, and heart shaped box of chocolates and if your lucky a back massage. Its when all the kiddies get valenetine chocolates too, Valentine takes on a new meaning. It depends at what Valentine you're at in your own history concerning cupid...
Well the red roses make up for it.
Wow - the history of it makes you wonder...but, it's always fascinating to see the origin of things! Nothing special planned - v-day is kind of my hum-bug holiday. Not that I scrooge on the love for my family! I do hope you thoroughly enjoy yours! :)
Dinner with the husband. Lobster, new potatoes and asparagus...hopefully after the kids are asleep :)
Happy V-Day.
J
In order to have a lovely evening, I'm going to have to get off my tush and do some shopping. Champagne and chocolate of course! And I think I'm going to find something at the art museum (I hope!)that will be a special something. I guess we'll see! Dinner won't be that special but there will be gifts and champagne makes any evening an event!!!
I like Tessa Quin's explanation. But then I'm a romantic. I'm with Jessica Bell, we should carry love with us every day, showing when it is least expected. Roland
I'm going to hopefully get cuddle time in. I bought my gils little hearts and cards to show them I love them, but I don't get to see them til later tonight- I have classes so their dad takes them for me. All the love in the air gives me warm fuzzy feelings :)
Interesting! I had no idea about any of that.
Interesting, I'm sure I learned about that when I was little in Religious Ed classes, but all those saints kinda went in one ear and out the other. Have a wonderful day!
Interesting, I'm sure I learned about that when I was little in Religious Ed classes, but all those saints kinda went in one ear and out the other. Have a wonderful day!
I love rooting around for the origins behind myths and legends, thank you for that, Michael.
We enjoyed a delicious Valentine lunch today and a walk around a gallery and sculpture garden....then it rained, perfect! MrB's homemade plum wine now!
I will be reading blogs after taking a week off. That is a little gruesome that St. Valentine died, the Romans were a nasty bunch. I wonder what they would think of us? Too soft maybe. Then after they think that we will attack with a Huey copter and blaring opera music. LOL
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
I learned about Valentine in my history class last year! Such an awesome guy!
Taking care of sick boys with flu. :( Oh well, I'm thankful we all get to be together. Happy V-Day!
Thanks for the history lesson Michael. You didn't say what you were doing (other than researching for us!) I spent a lovely long lunch with my 2 sisters at the Roses Restaurant and the food and drink was awesome. Then I went to work. My husband was out of it with a back injury, poor guy.
Denise:)
I've heard the story differently ... like the letters St. Valentine exchanged with his love while he was in prison. But hey, whateva!
I have absolutely nothing special planned due to Hubby working and me babysitting. But I've never been one to put much conviction in this Hallmark hiliday. It was fun in high school when you had your first love, but as an adult... I can take it or leave it. Such the romantic, huh.
Hope yours is nice anyway. It's a great excuse to watch a romantic movie. ;)
Wow, torture and death are not very romantic.
I will make the husband unit a nice dinner. Then we will hang and I will torment him with talk of my novels and stories. lol
Happy Valentines! :D
Love ... C'est la vie. :) Very informative (and disturbing on some level).
Hope your day doesn't involve persecution! :)
Fellow Crusader,
EJW
Hello, fellow crusader. Interesting facts you posted, I didn't know any of that.
It surprises me that no one knew about St. Valentine.....
Glad you posted the info! Happy Valentine's Day :)
Yay for both of us, Michael, for reaching 200 followers! :)
Happy Valentine's Day! Excellent post on V-day! :)
Happy Valentines! Always good to have reminder on the history behind St. Valentines. Sad, that he was tortured.
And, its just gone midnight here, I've had a lovely V-Day, am now sipping on an old glass of port and catching up on blogging at the moment!
Happy v-day! Thanks for that great tidbit on the history. I had no idea! No big plans for me today, just working. I'll celebrate in a few days though!
Happy Valentine's Day! Great post. We're planning on going out to Indian food - my favorite. :) And it won't surprise me if DH comes home with a big bouquet of flowers - he's famous for that. Hope your day is marvelous.
I love history! Loved this post! I did what I do on every other Monday! Happy Valentine's Day, Michael! Christy
Fancy meeting you on the crusade! Following and can't wait to read more.
Edge of Your Seat Romance
Hope you had a great Valentines. We celebrated Sunday in Costa! :O)
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