It seems that many civilizations throughout time have celebrated some sort of fertility custom... The Romans had Lupercalia and raised a glass to Faunus their god of fertility. Somehow Romulus and Remus get involved too, but I digress... this was eclipsed by a Saints commemoration. The story goes that this martyr healed his jailers daughter before his sentenced death. An expression of compassion, empathy and kindness in the face of evil. So in this story love and dedication to doing the right thing initiate feast day on a church calendar...
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| Apparently, Faunus had crazy hair... and hooves |
The Christian spin is built upon many years after St. Valentine of Rome was commemorated, read: made a St. on 14 February 496. There seems to be at least one other St Valentines which some Eastern Christian churches recognize - and they ascribe 23 July as the big day. Some say the St was martyred around 270 AD... sketchy huh? But I digress. So how did we get to the hearts and candy?
Chaucer did it. Around 1367, Geoffrey Chaucer a poet of great import along with others of his time decided to formalize expressions of love such as gifts of flowers or sweet treats as a "humanist" reaction to the puritanical views of the Catholic Church at that time.
The date is special for a few other reasons: Capt James Cook expired on this day, as did General Tecumseh Sherman. On a brighter note, Oregon and Arizona became states on this date.
I say it's a pretty darned good day and I hope you are fortunate enough to share it with someone special to you!
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| There's many stories out there on the good St.(s) |
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| ♥♥♥ |
AML NLO, JRO and my Valentine SEO AML
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