Post by Olivier on Feb 13, 2005 15:03:24 GMT -8
A text on the possible origins of Valentine's day (culled from various sources)-- not what you might think...
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The custom of sending lover's greetings on February 14 has no connection with either saint, but dates from the late Middle Ages, when it was believed that this day marked the beginning of the mating season for birds. Roman mythology associated the middle of February with the Goddess Juno, the venerable wife of Jupiter and the queen of heaven. Identified with the Greek Hera, she became the guardian of women and marriage, though significantly also a goddess of war.
Unable to uproot a day dedicated to the enjoyment of life and love, the early Church appropriated February 14 for its own calendar, linking it with the martyrdom of St Valentine.
Originally, Valentine was a pagan priest of the 3rd century AD. He was converted to Christianity and became a bishop. The story is told that at the time the Roman emperor Claudius II had decided to abolish the institution of marriage, as he felt that husbands did not make good soldiers. He tried to enforce the law with the utmost rigor.
Valentine considered such policy against the spirit of God and of human nature. He secretly married young lovers, but not for long. He was arrested, imprisoned, and brutally murdered on February 14, 269 AD.
Another (and more plausible account relates that Valentine frequently aided persecuted Christians, and that it was for this prison that he was sent into prison. But even there he continued his saintly work, miraculously restoring vision to his jailer's blind daughter. But he was doomed. On February he was clubbed to death. The date coincided with the ancient pagan feast of Juno, and ever since has been celebrated as St Valentine's day.
The tradition may have yet another origin. There have been many saints who healed people, and especially cured them of insanity. Saint Valentine was the patron saint of epileptics. A representation of Valentine blessing a young woman and a young man may account for his being now considered as the patron saint of lovers. They were in fact two epileptics in the midst of a crisis.
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Yes, I hate that stupid "Simon says 'show you're in love today' " day.
:Plivier
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The custom of sending lover's greetings on February 14 has no connection with either saint, but dates from the late Middle Ages, when it was believed that this day marked the beginning of the mating season for birds. Roman mythology associated the middle of February with the Goddess Juno, the venerable wife of Jupiter and the queen of heaven. Identified with the Greek Hera, she became the guardian of women and marriage, though significantly also a goddess of war.
Unable to uproot a day dedicated to the enjoyment of life and love, the early Church appropriated February 14 for its own calendar, linking it with the martyrdom of St Valentine.
Originally, Valentine was a pagan priest of the 3rd century AD. He was converted to Christianity and became a bishop. The story is told that at the time the Roman emperor Claudius II had decided to abolish the institution of marriage, as he felt that husbands did not make good soldiers. He tried to enforce the law with the utmost rigor.
Valentine considered such policy against the spirit of God and of human nature. He secretly married young lovers, but not for long. He was arrested, imprisoned, and brutally murdered on February 14, 269 AD.
Another (and more plausible account relates that Valentine frequently aided persecuted Christians, and that it was for this prison that he was sent into prison. But even there he continued his saintly work, miraculously restoring vision to his jailer's blind daughter. But he was doomed. On February he was clubbed to death. The date coincided with the ancient pagan feast of Juno, and ever since has been celebrated as St Valentine's day.
The tradition may have yet another origin. There have been many saints who healed people, and especially cured them of insanity. Saint Valentine was the patron saint of epileptics. A representation of Valentine blessing a young woman and a young man may account for his being now considered as the patron saint of lovers. They were in fact two epileptics in the midst of a crisis.
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Yes, I hate that stupid "Simon says 'show you're in love today' " day.
:Plivier