By Morris Dean
"Valentine's Day" is short for "Saint Valentine's Day." You may not have known that.
Or that it's also referred to as "the Feast of Saint Valentine"—in liturgical (or church) circles.
So, who was Saint Valentine? I always thought he was an Irish saint or, that is, a Christian missionary to Ireland. But St. Valentine's Day began early in church history as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Again, according to Wikipedia:
The most popular martyrology [an account of the life and manner of death of a martyr] associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote "from your Valentine" as a farewell to her.Another website identifies at least three Valentinuses, none of whom seems to have been Irish or to have done missionary work in Ireland. And a third website alludes to St. Valentine's having been an adopted Irish saint:
Saint Valentine, patron saint of lovers, is an Irish saint...by adoption at least. His remains can be venerated in the Dublin's Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.I guess the Irish have done a good PR job, at least on me, for me to think of Valentine's Day "as Irish." Either that or perhaps I'd conflated the day with St. Patrick's Day, which I've never seen shortened to "Patrick's Day."
Did you associate Valentine's Day with Irelend, or think the other day was Patrick's? Let me know by comment, if you would. A recent issue of The New Yorker had a cartoon that I so related to: A psychiatrist says to his patient lying on a couch: "Let's try focusing on your blog posts that do receive comments."
was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").Have a happy Thor's Valentine's day!
And, when you comment on whether you, too, associated Valentine's Day with Ireland or thought of the other day as Patrick's, please also let me know whether you know anybody who considers Valentine's Day a religious holiday. I don't, and I'd love to try focusing on the point with my psychiatrist.
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
| Please comment |
As most know Jesus was not born on the 25th of Dec.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the 25th will always be Christmas as Valentine's Day will always be Irish. The Pagans wrote their owe rules when it came to the Saints.
Konotahe, please say more about the Irishness of Valentine's Day, for both my and Motomynd's sake. See his comment below.
DeleteAs I read the two of your's posts below, I found that St.Valentine's day, St.Patrick's day and the Irish took a backseat to money.
DeleteThe two holidays came over with the great migration of Irish to the US. Some people found a way to make a buck using both holidays--as people always do.
No one has to join in. Most men on Valentine's Day feel a guilt for one reason or the other and most join the party. St.Paddy's day is just a good reason to get drunk.
I feel no guilt but when my wife worked I sent flowers to her office---I think we all know why.
I haven't drink in 20 years so St.Paddy does not hold as much charm as he once did.
A far as religion goes---can any of you say that you've never knocked on wood for luck?
Ah, so you did a bit of historical research, good. Where might I read about the two holidays' having been imported with the Irish during their great migration? Thanks!
DeleteSorry to say I did no research. I remember it from a St. Paddy day parade in NYC. They gave a long list of the things the Irish ingrained in to the American physic. I remembered St. Valentine and St. Patrick day, the wearing of green, poems, writers,--it was a long list. It could be all blarney, but when in doubt---
DeleteRight, when in doubt, go ahead and use it anyway if it seems to substantiate what you want to believe!
DeleteMorris, since you asked the questions: No, I don't know anyone who considers Valentine's Day a religious holiday, and I had no idea it was somehow associated with Ireland. You didn't ask, but are we supposed to somehow connect St. Patrick's Day with religion - or is it okay to just keep associating it with obnoxiousness and ridiculousness?
ReplyDeleteThe one great usefulness for both days is as a litmus test for romantic relationships. If you are a guy who is involved with a woman who wants you to make a big deal out of either day - even if only by way of sickening amounts of chocolate or green beer - or if you are a woman with a like-minded guy for that matter, that is your clue to cut your losses and move on. Otherwise you may find yourself frittering away your mental energy trying to decode the brain of someone too easily swayed by the power of cult mentality and advertising campaigns. Today it is a bad dinner in a cramped restaurant with a surly staff, next month it is a hangover and a headache from tainted beer and songs necessarily less complex than those taught to kindergartners, and next year it is buying an industrial size lawnmower for a postage stamp lawn because the next-door neighbors did. You have been warned, sorry if it came decades too late.
When my wife and I were dating and our first Valentine's Day was approaching, I planned nothing special and waited to see what would happen. A few days before romantic D-Day she said "you aren't planning anything special for Valentine's Day, are you?" To which I cautiously replied, "no, I'm not." She gave that look that only a petite redhead can muster and said, "good. It is just a contrived day for people to make money from, and I have always despised having to be any part of it. If people really love each other they should act like it all the time, not just set one day aside to put on a show." And with that I knew I definitely should keep her if I could.
Moto, What anyone associates with a particular holiday is that one's personal matter, so far as your question about what I might suppose about St. Patrick's Day. There is, of course, nothing religious about the day to me personally.
ReplyDeleteI laud your and your wife's attitude toward Valentine's Day with respect to love. I have more than once on this blog expressed my objection to setting aside ONE day for, for example, giving thanks, as a travesty and a distraction. Same goes for Christmas as "peace on Earth" day and for Valentine's Day as "the day for love."
Oops, I just positioned a follow-on comment wrong. Here it is anew:
Delete...The "same goes" also goes for making Sunday (for example) a holy day of the week. I've been reading Life of Pi, in which the title character is a devout Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, if that that is really possible. His elder brother suggests that if he have the end of his pecker cut off, he can also be a Jew and thus have four consecutive holidays. And, if he could join three more religions, he might have everyday as a holiday.
Fortunately (and by happy coincidence), after recording that for use in a future "Thor's Day" column, I saw an article in the local newspaper about Penn Jillette's book, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday.
Atheism, besides recommending itself by rejecting the falsehoods of religion, has the additional huge benefit of restoring some sanity to the way we account days. Every day is "holy," in the sense that it is our reality and we undervalue it as our "soul's" peril.
That, in a nutshell, is my Credo, I suppose. What I Believe about Life. While I don't think of it as a religious credo in the narrow, theistic sense, I acknowledge that in a larger sense—which might more neutrally be termed "spiritual"—it is religious. It takes life seriously, acknowledges our mortality, accepts that we won't pass this way again....
Morris, I suppose it all starts with Sunday being embedded in the minds of many as the real-life equivalent of the Monopoly "get out of jail" card.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to see shaved-head cultists begging donations I always wanted to ask them "in your old life, did you get together with fellow idiots and drink green beer?" Is it just me, or is there a logical link? Ditto for people who join cult communes in the desert, then help build temples and construct cities and commerce around them - and actually convince themselves it is all about religion, instead of business and power.
Not sure we can rule on whether the link might be "logical" or not, but odder things get associated in people's brains.
DeleteI admit that I have done next to no thinking about church things maybe being more about business and power than about "spiritual matters," perhaps because, always for me as a young person and in the intervening years, it was all about the latter, and I didn't concern myself with the motives of pastors and ministers and priests and popes and such. But I think you and others commenting on this blog have made it quite clear that much about religion is indeed about the business of the church. It's sad that ordinary church members—of which I guess I was one—can't see that the value of the business's product is either minimal or negative. Some minimal value might be had, for example, in providing a congenial social life for lonely people—even support groups during times of travail....
Just to add a little something. There are five beliefs as to were the term: 'Knock on wood' came from. Here is one---I say when in doubt go with the Irish. They are more likely to be wrong---but in a fun way.
DeleteThere is an Irish belief that you `knock on wood' to let the leprechauns know that you are thanking them for a bit of good luck.
Now, isn't that sweet?
Yes, Konotahe, cute story about the leprechauns. I do confess to having gone through the motions of knocking on wood, but I'm not sure that I ever believed it. I don't think I did. Now, of course, I don't even go through the motions....
DeleteI had never thought of Valentines as either religious or Irish (and me an Irishman..) I'd assumed without much interest that it was invented by Macy's.
ReplyDeleteI actually celebrated with an e-card and some chocolate covered strawberries. If pressed, my wife would probably agree that it's a commercial scam. But doing that made her feel good, so what the hell?
Indeed, what the hell!
Delete