Today, or more specifically, yesterday was Valentines Day. A national holiday declared by the government and makers of calendars to be the day for lovers. The day for roses, chocolate and tasteless candy hearts with sentiments of affection boiled down to eight letters or less. B MINE, I’M YRS….candy hearts, seldom credited precursor to modern day text messaging.
Single and coupled alike, many people give this holiday the bird. Some for political reasons. Some for economic. Some people just don’t like chocolate. As we (Americans) live in a capitalist society, it only stands to reason that businesses are season geared and promotional. Commercialization happens. Paper turkeys happen in November; rabbits hide plastic eggs in the spring. In December, every mall has a faux-fat guy with a beard sit in a chair and listen to the wants and wishes of small children.
On the subject of the bearded man of Christmas, ask any child what Santa Claus looks like and they’ll tell you. He’s a fat bearded man in a red coat with white trim. Only a few people know that that specific image was created by an ad exec from coca-cola. It’s so deep in our cultural consciousness that we’re barely aware of it. Should we then flip the bird at Christmas, Grinch?
Holidays happen. Local and large corporate businesses alike will want in on the action. Nothing, short of an unlikely Communist coup, will change that. No GOP, Obama won’t steal Christmas. Shop window displays will turn red in February whether Obama is re-elected or not.
Nevertheless, it’s on these grounds that most people reject a holiday like Valentines day. They don’t care about where it came from. They just know where it is and want it gone. Why should a calendar tell you to love someone? And I say: if it doesn’t, what will?
Where DID Valentine come from? Every holiday has murky and questionable origins. No one knows the exact origin of Valentines, but I’d put my money on some sort of pagan shag-a-thon first order converted and inserted into Christianity when it swept the nations.
As for Valentine himself? Emperor Whose-yer-daddy (it may have been Claudius) wished to put together an army of single men, believing that such a fighting force would be unstoppable. Such an army would have their head in the game–so to speak –with no thoughts of wives or children at home. Such an army would be ruthless because, really….why not? If there’s nobody at home, why bother going? If you’re not going home, presumably you’re prepared to make sure the other side doesn’t either.
Claudius (for arguments sake let’s say it was him) made marriage among his enlisted soldiers a crime, and Valentine (that rebel) performed secret marriages on the sly. I, for one, agree with Valentine. Such an army of bachelors would not be so much formidable as it would be without clean socks and fuzzy on the last known location of their car keys. Not to mention their table manners. But no one asks me.
Of course Valentine was caught. Of course he was martyred. On Feburary 14th, or so the legend goes.
Is the legend true? Don’t look at me. Myths and legends are not valuable based on their provable veracity. Their worth is their enduring legacy of thought, idea and understanding. Every culture has its myths, and more than one myth has a holiday.
Boiled down to core essence, all holidays are essentially the same and if I was instructed to give them all a uniform umbrella title, it would be this: Days-in-which-our-over-worked-self-absorbed -worry wart- asses-are- forced-to-remember-the-people-in-our-lives-instead-of the-things-we-do-or-do-not-have-or-things-we-can-or-cannot-buy. It’s a mouthful, and I’m pretty sure I’d never get it through Congress. It definitely won’t fit on a candy heart.
Nevertheless:
Mothers Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Veterans’ Day, Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Birthdays (mine is of yet, un-nationalized and more’s the pity)….Remember the people.
So if your stance on Valentine is less than charitable, I encourage you to soften your stance. Like the mythical figureheads of all holidays, Valentine was in on the secret. Commercialization, Capitalism, Patriotism, Promotions, Commotions, Communist, Pacifist….be damned. St. Valentine knew. Claudius can stuff it. You need someone at home. With all the laudatory love of independence, self-sufficiency, and the power of one, God and country– everyone needs someone at home.
Commercialization might have ruined Valentine, but it’s also the reason he needs to stay.
You need someone at home.
And a reason to eat chocolate is never a bad thing.
