What does Valentine's Day mean to you?

Smeet Sayuri Article User Blog

EN Journalist εїз šαуûяî εїз wants to hear about your Valentines day and shares hers with us...

Whenever I think of Valentine’s Day,  the first things that come to my mind are:  beautiful bouquet of flowers, especially red roses (my favorite flower), chocolates, a surprise gift  with a special Valentine’s card from my partner, a romantic candle lit dinner at a 5-star restaurant.  But Valentine’s Day is more than all of what pops into my mind and I’m sure everyone else’s.  There is a history behind Valentine’s Day.

Where does Valentine’s Day come from?  “The story of Valentine’s Day dates back to the life of St. Valentine, a Roman Catholic martyr who died in the third century.  Although the facts of Valentine’s life are murky (some sources say he was persecuted for performing forbidden  marriages, while others say he helped Christians refugees escape Roman violence).  He is consistently presented as a moral, generous, and romantic person.  One legend holds that St. Valentine became friendly with his jailer’s daughter and wrote her a note signed: “From your Valentine” ---- which remains a popular phrase associated with Valentine’s Day. 

The romantic meaning of Valentine’s Day has existed since the Middle Ages, and gained popularity as a gift-giving event for aristocrats in 18th century England and America.  The first mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards were created by Esther Howland in the 1840s.  Since then a large industry has developed around the making and selling of Valentine’s Day products like flowers, cards and candies.”

“This is how Saint Valentine became affiliated with a love-focused holiday:  Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who wore a ring with a cupid on it – a symbol of love – (that helped soldiers wanting him to perform their weddings to be able to recognize him.)   And, in a precursor to greeting cards, he handed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for GOD”.  (Quoted from Google)

So with all that said regarding the history behind Valentine’s Day, what is the true meaning of Valentine’s Day:

“Valentine’s Day (February 14th) is a day that lovers express their affection with gifts, flowers, cards, etc.  Valentine’s Day has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February.  The festival celebrated the coming of spring, and included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery.”   (Quoted from Google) According to history.com:  Lupercalia, an ancient Roman fertility festival that fell between February 13th and February 15th, is thought to be the reason Valentine’s Day falls on February 14th.   Another interesting fact I discovered by doing my research on Google about the history of Valentine’s Day.

Although all of this information that I found doing my research on the History and origin of Valentine’s Day and what it means to you --- I personally like this answer:

“For Dr. Rachne Panda, a specialist in internal medicine at Ruhengeri Hospital, it is a day to remind humanity of LOVE, which she describes as:  “a very basic human value needed to maintain peace and harmony.”

 

I especially like this quotation about what Valentine’s Day means to Sandrine Ishdjr Butera:

“Love is something that should be celebrated EVERY DAY.  We don’t have to wait till February 14th to show that we love and care.  Love is something that should be demonstrated in our every day words and actions.”  (Sandrine Ishdjr Butera)

As Mother Teresa said, “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of LOVE”.

Valentine’s Day for all of us should be considered to be like this:

  1.  It’s a good reminder to cherish your loved ones, every day of the year.
  2. It’s a day to remind us to be thankful for the ones we love and to make sure they know that we love them and tell them this every day.  No one promises us tomorrow.  Life is so short and like a vapor, so fleeting and therefore, always tell your loved ones that you love them very much.
  3. To cherish and value the peoples around you currently who give you hope and joy and always are there for you no matter what.

When I asked my friends what Valentine’s Day meant to them, this is what they all had to say:

Valentine’s Day is a day of showing love and appreciation to all of their family members and friends. 

In conclusion, I want to leave you all this most  wonderful and thought provoking quotation that I love so much and believe that if we ALL practice this daily, the world would be a  much better place:

“LOVE is patient, Love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  LOVE does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”  (I Corinthians 13:1-13).

I hope you all enjoyed finding out along with me what the History and origin of Valentine’s Day is and hope all this information will help you to practice more LOVE in your lives and emanate this LOVE to everyone.  It does take a lot of practice but if one desires peace, joy, harmony and happiness within oneself, it can easily be attained.  Let’s all make LOVE to all peoples a priority in our lives every single day and not just wait for Valentine’s Day.

So until the next time we meet again, keep on smiling, dancing and meeting new peoples on Smeet at our daily events.  Remember always to love one another because Love conquers everything.   Please say hi to me if you see me around on Smeet  ,and If you have a question or would like to read topics of special interest that I have  never covered before in my articles, please do not hesitate to message me in private on Smeet.  And if your question or topic warrants an article,   I will be sure to write an article on it. 

God bless all of you and Happy Valentine’s Day!!   <3

εїз šαуûяî εїз , EN Journalist,  ID#13520497

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