By Shamrina Carim
What if you knew that Valentine is that one time of the year where it is red and glee, but actually it comprehends to a history of blood and flees?
The devil of this day has converted into a mass festive market, recurring billions of dollars throughout every February. Valentines is celebrated for the sake of the unknown origin and the blind following of a cupid arrow.
The mystery of Valentine’s Day is built in a dark history, filled with oppression, illogical thinking conditions, and a varied culture created without a solid justification of reasoning and understanding. Metaphorically, Valentine is a matchmaker and makes marriages happen in secret against the “rule of thumb” for young men to remain as single and strong soldiers.
Valentine was beheaded when the truth came to light, that the opportunity of a capitalistic concept is disturbed with the practice of bonding partners and building families. The theory is diversified to doing a good deed as a crime. As a symbol of his character, a farewell note was given by Valentine, prior to his death signing “from your Valentine”.
In the slow evolution of the pre-roman era, the Pagan festival known as Lupercalia was celebrated for a horrendous reason from the 13th of February to the 15th of the same month.
More than dreading the cultural virtue of the festival, women embraced the idiocy of encouraging harm externally, to fulfill fertility expectations. The men of the community slain goat and dog hides, dip in cold blood, and whip women to satisfy the expected purpose to produce offspring. As for the singles and eligible bachelors, a matchmaking ritual is performed in preparing “sweethearts” through a cult using a death box or the urn, to bond the partners together.
These methods were followed blindly until the industrial revolution gradually caught the reigns of the British. This part of the dynamic change has cut off the meticulous side of Valentine’s traditions and converted the whole system into a capitalistic, money-making festivity.
In the 17th century, “the language of flowers” chose the Red Rose to associate the tradition towards the Greek Goddess of Love. The growth of this custom has economically progressed the flower business to 2 billion dollars, worldwide.
Insignificantly, love was never the symbol that rectified the 14th of February. From a cruel and sorcery-based evolution, Valentine’s, just like any other festival, became commercialized, and love was mediated to be expressed in one day. Cards, gifts, holidays, and flowers were exchanged on a larger percentage on the only day at a faster pace, compared to normal days in the year.
The dark days of Valentine are yet present in the form of the greed of capitalism in the business circle. If we are to twist the history of St. Valentine the other way around, this day can be symbolized as a date of honoring, loving, and respecting all nature equally and equivocally, by contributing kindness, free efforts and expressions of genuine gratitude towards each other.
Love is meant to be fruitful, and a meaning created at your own pace surrounded by values, compromises, and efforts put in daily. Saint Valentine’s would not be a mandatory holiday amongst the fresh couples. The day should openly configure the ability to incorporate daily attributes towards love and not fixate on a date of an unpleasant origin.
