Valentines Day - What a crock?
104217
I'm with you there! The idea is really sweet but its turned into a majorly comeralized thing! You see all these ads for roses, chocolate, jewlary and it gets so annoying after a while!
168508
valentine:\n<[After saint Valentine] \nWord History: Lovers and the greeting card industry may have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the holiday that warms the coldest month. Although reference books abound with mentions of Roman festivals from which Valentine's Day may derive, Jack B. Oruch has shown that no evidence supports these connections and that Chaucer was probably the first to link the saint's day with the custom of choosing sweethearts. No such link has been found before the writings of Chaucer and several literary contemporaries who also mention it, but after them the association becomes widespread. It seems likely that Chaucer, the most imaginative of the group, invented it. The fullest and perhaps earliest description of the Valentine's Day tradition occurs in Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, composed around 1380, which takes place “on Seynt Valentynes day,/Whan every foul cometh there to chese [choose] his make [mate].”
95379
he first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where ****February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate.**** This belief is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules (1381)\n\nIn the following century, one of John Lydgate's minor poems is "A balade made..in wyse of chesing loues at Saint Valentynes day" which indicates that the manner of choosing was drawing lots. By the 17th century a valentine was extended to the gift given, some pretty token.\n\nIt was common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other their "Valentines". A 14th century valentine is said to be in the collection of the British Library. It is probable that many of the legends about St. Valentine were invented during this period.
52776
My perfect Valentines day would be a nice quiet dinner (doesn't have to be an expensive one, as I'd like it cooked for me), I'd like to be presented with one perfect white rose & told it represents the purity of our love, I'd like some really great chocolate truffles - fed to me of course! I'd also like to hear something kinda mushy like..."I don't know how I ever got so lucky to have a woman as beautiful as you fall in love with me, but thank you for loving me." Then I would like to make love in a candle lit room(not just one candle, LOTS of candles), and it wouldn't hurt if when I tried to pleasure my man, he said something like "No, tonight is all about you." (I'd rock his world after a comment like that!! Gotta go, this turned me on!
99161
Please tell me what this has to do with Valentine's Day. You posted the question under that topic, and I don't see the relationship between a holiday and the end of the world.
47573
Well, you just have to find someone who shares the same V-day opinion that you do.  My husband and I love V-day b/c it's our anniversary.  We share that as our day.  Not as a commercialized holiday.
35658
Roman Roots\nThe history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. The holiday's roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day.\n\nValentines Galore\nWhich St. Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery: according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.\n\nMost scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.\n\nIn 1969, the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the casualties.\n\nChaucer's Love Birds\nIt was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance.\n\nIn 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day. In "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are linked:\n\nFor this was on St. Valentine's Day, \nWhen every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.\n\nTradition of Valentine's Cards\n Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are valentines.
52715
Its a day when u show ur significant other how much u love and appreciate them although u should be showing them everday but for the people who dont...why not take one day out of the year to just appreciate and love ur mate.
68203
Why don't you ask a good girlfriend over for dinner? Someone who needs a bit of cheering up? Someone who just lost someone precious? Practice making a special dinner for your love and make it first for a friend...open a good bottle of wine...have some laughs and watch a great romantic movie or something for girls...like "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (Barbra Streisand) \n\nI just had lunch today with 2 friends - one is from England, the other from Denmark, and we did most of the above activities. It was fabulously fun.
138221
We buy valentines day cards and flowers for our valentines (the commercial aspect) and we take them out or stay home for a romantic dinner (the romantic aspect).\n\nPS Did I forget to mention CHOCOLATE!!! :)
46500
Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The history of Valentine's day can be traced back to an obscure Catholic Church feast day, said to be in honor of Saint Valentine, are discussed below. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of romantic love was formulated.\n\nThe day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Starting in the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines
83028
the roman catholics started it! it is SAINT valentine's day. believe it or not, back in mideval times, almost every day celebrated the life of some saint. now, pretty much only saint patrick's day and saint valentine's day live on, since hallmark has found ways to make money off of them. \nanyways, st. valentine's day is just a day to celebrate the life of st. valentine, the patron saint of love.
171500
How about that?\n"Honey, this is the happies Valentine day I had, because I got to share it with you. Before you, no Valentine Day was worth its name for you. I am so happy to spend it with you this time and many times more."\n\nHope that helps.
170257
Here's what I'm gonna do (I don't have a Valentine either):  Go shopping, hopefully get together with other single friends, go out to eat and just do stuff I enjoy.  Since you're a guy you may want to skip the shopping but you could basically spend the day doing the "guy equivalent" of what I just listed, LOL.  Have a good one :-D
95749
I always felt like it's one of those man made "holidays" (some people actually consider it a holiday) it makes people spend their money on presents, reastaurants, flowers, balloons, or whatever so who truly benefits from valentines day?. Love should be express on a daily basis, every day should be as special .
156558
Man that would have be the easiest time to grab a honey and party. A woman on Valentines day alone is ready to slit her wrist....Get out there and Ring HELL'S BELL.I know You have it in ya....\n\nOtherwise ....One word for ya Stripclub hoes need lovin too.
68583
If it were sexist it would be favoring one sex or another wouldn't it? I think when it comes to showing love, Valentine's Day was created for everyone to show love. It is not anymore geared to one sex than another. Now if you asked if the focus of the marketing of Valentine's Day sexist.......perhaps. Have you noticed the increase in jewelry commercials......flowers......intimate delicates?   Shouldn't we also buy tools, new tires, fishing tackle and cigars?   From what I understand V-day was created by the card companies using St. Valentine as the patron saint of the day. *shrugs*   My kids love it........as for me? I just like the little candy hearts that say "Be mine" on them.