I'm sure when Valentine's Day started out it was a really good idea (and not just for card companies). I still think that in theory it is a very good idea. What's not to like about a day when romance is the theme? Well, the problem is interpreting not only what romance is, but what your significant other interprets as romance. And if you don't have a significant other, forget it. Here's an article entitled Why I Hate Valentine's Day.
My last Valentine's Day was spent hosting a 5 hour Dungeons and Dragons Game at our home (I went shopping for most of it and was then banished to the second floor like Rapunzel). After the orcs, trolls, and wizards had departed we went out to dinner somewhere I had made reservations. The odd thing was that the majority of the D&D players were also married. Did none of them realize it was Valentine's Day? Did none of them realize that there is one day a year for you to step up the romance - especially if you never do so on any other day?
I'd love to be the kind of person who doesn't care about Valentine's Day but when you are in a relationship completely devoid of romantic gestures it's the one day you hope will melt your spouses heart like Cindy-Lou Who and the Grinch.
I say we bring back the old traditions. This is my favorite (from here).
I can just see boys running through the streets of Hanover and Lebanon with bloody goat strips. Makes a cheesy box of chocolates downright appealing.
My last Valentine's Day was spent hosting a 5 hour Dungeons and Dragons Game at our home (I went shopping for most of it and was then banished to the second floor like Rapunzel). After the orcs, trolls, and wizards had departed we went out to dinner somewhere I had made reservations. The odd thing was that the majority of the D&D players were also married. Did none of them realize it was Valentine's Day? Did none of them realize that there is one day a year for you to step up the romance - especially if you never do so on any other day?
I'd love to be the kind of person who doesn't care about Valentine's Day but when you are in a relationship completely devoid of romantic gestures it's the one day you hope will melt your spouses heart like Cindy-Lou Who and the Grinch.
I say we bring back the old traditions. This is my favorite (from here).
In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year.
I can just see boys running through the streets of Hanover and Lebanon with bloody goat strips. Makes a cheesy box of chocolates downright appealing.
Comments
What I find most amusing about Valentine's day is that St. Valentine was an excommunicated priest. Friggin' Catholics.
For Valentine's day, I will be waiting for the next day, buying the last Whitman's Sampler at 50% off, and eating it with a nice Merlot. To Royce, the sad part about that is the Whitman's Sampler, which he says is inferior -- nay, disgusting -- chocolate. Royce got a smack in the head for a tip.