Love is in the air..

Category: Culture
Written by: Faisal K (on February 10, 2008 - 02:05 AM)

E-Mail Article to a Friend

It will soon be Febuary 14th, Valentines day. All over our nation assorted shops will bathe themselves in red hearts, pattesieries will have heart shaped cakes and most of us will do their best to relive the legend of eternal love on the day of the roses.

Everyone knows the history of Valentines day right? the romantic version goes like this. "There was once a St Valentine who used to arrange cladestine marriages for soldiers during the reign of the Roman Emporer Claudius II. Who basically didnt want the young men of his city to go for dames, he preffered them in uniform. So Valentine was imprisoned and he fell in love with the jailers daughter and wrote one last letter to his love before execution signing it with, your Valentine"

The real version however if one does some research and does not believe in everything "Hallmark" tells us is a bit shocking. This day was celebrated in ancient Rome in a festival for one of their gods, a diety called Lupercalia on Feb 15th each year. The actual ceremony included placing of young womens names in a bowl on chits, from which the men of Rome without looking(as Romans were so fair) drew out their bed warmers for the night. The pope later tried to replace the womens names with names of saints, which a man would have to worship (upon drawing) throughout the year, this didnt exactly go down too well with Romans so they returned to womens names. This tradition was last known to have been held in 1776.

Basically it was a ritual of fertility and culiminated in a orgy of lust. Now my readers would probably be wondering why i am trying to kill a day which brings everyone happiness, well almost everyone. Let us not forget those who do not get valentines, or how this day makes people who are alone feel. I am not even going to begin to try to see Vday in Islams light as in our religon even gazing at a Na mahram is haraam let alone wooing her with sky writing and what bloody not!

So when you are out there buying red roses or perhaps a heart shaped cuddle something, do remember what it actually represents, and try putting as many red bows on it as you wish, but the truth of valentines day is to say the least quite disgusting.

Plus riddle me this? why do we need Febuary 14th to tell the ones we care about of our devotion to them at all? We should be able to do it every day, they deserve it do they not? Or is it only on Feb 14th that the stars align in a fashion where our heart suddenly pounds with love and we burst out in song, or prose or newspaper ads proclaiming our love.

I say let us make love less commercial, only then can we turn it into something everlasting, down with Vday!!

Share your thoughts by posting a Talk-Back: