Saint Valentines Day...

[Amiraa]

Here you go Razzy...

[razrif]

Gee thanks!

[Amiraa]

Originally Posted by razrif

Gee thanks!

Here i got you this to make instead...

[razrif]

perhaps next year i can make myself one

[aswad]

raz,
where is my valentine card ?
Today is the day of the love, not only for the lovers

[-thetruth_]

Originally Posted by brim

Truthy, lighten up. Life's too short. Smile a bit!

excuse me mate I laugh everyday till i cry. How much more do you want me to be?. you are following others without even knowing why or who started this and that. Do you actually know who St Valentine is????????

let me remind you

The Origins of St. Valentine's Day

A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:

a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.

b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.

c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.

d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.

The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.

Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.

There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

NOW YOU SEE WHY MUSLIMS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PAGANTS??????

[brim]

you are following others without even knowing why or who started this and that. Do you actually know who St Valentine is????????

err YES as it happens.

That is where Valentine's Day came from but it's now a long way removed from that. It's somewhere between a bit of fun and another excuse to waste money on things that aren't really needed!

p.s. Truth, you mentioned Pagans. Neither the Romans nor Catholics are Pagans. Where did your Pagan reference come from?