Valentine

[fpb]

Some nice person has sent me a virtual gift of chocolates. This would be just a pleasant way to underline the day, but what the person concerned cannot possibly have known is that this is the first time anyone has sent anything to me for St.Valentine's day in all my life. So thank you very much, Anonymous, you've made my day.

Comments

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I hope they don't celebrate Valentine's day in Italy?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Not in the same way. Of course, Valentines have now come in, like every American idea does sooner or later, but my generation did not use them.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It is known. After all, remember that the reason why it is the day of lovers is that St.Valentine of Interamna (Terni, Italy) is the patron saint of engaged persons in the Catholic Church. It just never was that important until recently. In my time, love and marriage were more often associated with May, high spring. If you think about it, it is rather counter-intuitive to place the day of lovers at the height of winter.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I kinda thought St. Valentine's day was invented by commercial companies, and they put it in the middle of winter because there was no other holiday around the time. At least that's what everyone says. In Japan, they managed to introduce the holiday as a day for boys to buy their girlfriends red things, and a reciprocal holiday for girls to buy their boyfriends white things, if I recall correctly.

As for me, I often spend much of Valentine's Day alternating between being glad I'm single and feeling lonely. Not a big fan of the holiday, really.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I was recalling it incorrectly. Valentine's Day in Japan is when the women give chocolates to people they appreciate (giri-choko), and White Day is for men to reciprocate.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Wrong on both counts, luckily. St.Valentine was executed, according to the story, for illegally marrying a centurion and a Christian girl when the reigning Emperor had forbidden soldiers to marry. That is why he is the patron saint of engaged couples. And there is at least one other February sacred day, namely Candlemas (8 Feb, I think), though it is disused today. In Catholic countries, Carnival falls most often in February, since it has to come forty-one days before Easter; and I can tell you that Carnival is HUGE in Italy.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know about St. Valentine, but the idea that Hallmark came up with the way to celebrate it is pretty common around here.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Maybe they did. After all, they or people like them invented Mother's Day, Father's Day, and an increasing proliferation of other "days". Even Christmas cards were only invented about 1842, I think.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

It's funny that the widespread cynacism is widely acknowledged except by the mainstream media. I mean, they don't get anything out of it!

[aduxxx.livejournal.com]

Isn't it a nice thing to stand still and show appreciation for someone you love? Really, it should be an every-day kind of thing, but an extra sign of appreciation is always a good thing.

Personally, I'm too sober for the fanfare that surrounds St. Valentine's in America, but that's a cultural thing. My husband brought me some fruit; he didn't have to, but the thought was all that mattered :)

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong with that, but I sorta wish someone had invented a holiday that was for all love, not just romantic love.

[aduxxx.livejournal.com]

Unofficially I think a lot of people take the opportunity for that. I receive messages from friends, who don't love me romantically, on Valentine's. But yes, the emphasis is on Romantic Love, probably because of the roots of the backstory :/

I suppose Christmas could count as the Holiday that is all about Love. Birth of Christ and all, who loves everyone as much as parents love their children.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

I think Christmas is mostly aimed at families, and if you're not on good terms with them ...

I think what cultures celebrate is fascinating. It demonstratest the values of that culture.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

They have. They are called Christmas and Easter.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Possibly. Or, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is a celebration of life in the middle of the dark season.

Er, whoops...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

...I find that I answered this twice. I found it first on my LJ as I checked it this morning, then it turned up on my e-mail account and I did not realize I had already answered. Ah well.

Incidentally, Terni is famous not only for its patron saint, but also for the most astounding waterfall in Italy, the Marmore - three leaps for a total of 500 feet. The most astonishing thing is that this is not a natural waterfall, but an artificial work - by the Romans, of course.

Re: Er, whoops...

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

It's all right; I like getting email. :)

Why did the Romans build it?

Re: Er, whoops...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

To drain a swampy lake in the up-country area. Oddly enough, that part of Italy had a number of swampy plateaus in mountain districts. The most famous is Lake Fucino which was also drained by the Romans. Unlike the Marmore waterfalls, however, their works there did not last, and the Kingdom of Italy had to do it over again in the late nineteenth century.