Extoll your hate of Valentine's Day (was: Extoll the virtues of your love!!)

[Turanil]

<...> but a melted chocolate does not get you laid <...>

Money works better!

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Eh. It is just another day. There is the annoyance of having to buy cards, but that is just because I hate sending cards.

The chocolate is good though. Forget giving it to others. Just eat it yourself. You'll feel better afterwards.

 

[Pseudonym]

This year I told my fiance that she has to send *me* roses and chocolate and take me out to dinner.

We'll see how far that goes.

 

[Dakkareth]

It fails in just about every aspect of a holiday,and it is more of a card seling day than real holiday.
<snip>

And here's one post to save to hd ...

 

[Chun-tzu]

"Mom, romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece." -Lisa Simpson

This is one of my favorite Simpsons quotes, ever.
No, I'm not bitter. Really. Not at all. Not even a little. Nope. Nosiree.

 

[Knightfall]

I don't hate Valentine's Day. I save my hate for things that matter. To me, it is just another day.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I admit it . I hate Valentine's Day. To me it is a made up day created to sell crap during an otherwise 'dead' area of the retail year. It is blatant cosumerism at it's worst. I don't think anyone should be feeling bad over being single on this day. It is fake and a sad commentary on the state of the relationships between men and women.

BTW I am married and was seeing my now wife for 6 years before we got married. In that time I have only been 'forced' to celebrate V-Day 3 times. I don't think my wife hates it as much as I do but there is little love for it. We celebrate our love and bond every day. As should anyone fortunate enough to find someone special. For you single guys and gals out there - don't despair! There will be another person in your life soon! You have to believe that.

Historically? No, it was not made up to sell crap. Look up Saint Valentine, who's day it is.

I rather like St. Valentine's Day, my girl and I exchange gifts on the day, generally chocolates and other food, and I make a card, while she gives ne a tape of music she has done. It is as good an excuse to get together as any, and serves as a reminder to celebrate what might otherwise be forgotten.

Sorry, but for a Grump I am awfully sugar coated when it comes to seeing my girl. I feel a need to e-mail her right now, even though I know full well she won't see it till Monday at least...

The Auld Grump

 

[The Shaman]

*snippage*

Ye auld softy, ye.

 

[Zappo]

Mmmh... it seems that this day is thus much more emphasized in the US than it is in Europe. Well, as for made up day created to sell crap, the two days I absolutely hate are "Mother's Day", and then "Father's Day". It has all been invented by merchants so you must feel obliged to buy stuff, otherwise you are a "bad son (or daughter)", an ungrateful person.

I hear ya. I've just stopped celebrating them. Merchants milk me enough every day.

 

[fusangite]

Historically? No, it was not made up to sell crap. Look up Saint Valentine, who's day it is.

So I did. Now, if anyone would take the position that the celebration has something to do with the saint, it would be the Roman Catholic Church. However, here is what they have to say:

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury's time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighborhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing further is known.

Saint Valentine's Day

The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's Parliament of Foules we read:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice. Perhaps the earliest to be found is in the 34th and 35th Ballades of the bilingual poet, John Gower, written in French; but Lydgate and Clauvowe supply other examples. Those who chose each other under these circumstances seem to have been called by each other their Valentines. In the Paston Letters, Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (we modernize the spelling), addressing the favoured suitor:

And, cousin mine, upon Monday is Saint Valentine's Day and every bird chooses himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.

Shortly after the young lady herself wrote a letter to the same man addressing it "Unto my rightwell beloved Valentine, John Paston Esquire". The custom of choosing and sending valentines has of late years fallen into comparative desuetude.

Although the Catholic Encyclopedia doesn't quite come out and say it, this certainly is indicative of the more mainstream theory that this festival is a pagan survival and not related to the saint.

While I don't agree with those who argue that the festival is a modern creation of greeting card companies, the argument that it pertains to the saint beyond sharing his feast day is equally untenable.

I rather like St. Valentine's Day, my girl and I exchange gifts on the day, generally chocolates and other food, and I make a card, while she gives ne a tape of music she has done. It is as good an excuse to get together as any, and serves as a reminder to celebrate what might otherwise be forgotten.

I think there is a problem with festivals that create barriers to participation by creating interpersonal and familial relationship entry requirements. As Christmas and American Thanksgiving have gradually become holidays that fete the family rather than Jesus or the harvest, they have become increasingly associated with feelings of inadequacy and suicide attempts. I am equally concerned about Valentine's Day; again, one is barred from celebrating the festival properly if one does not meet cultural requirements for how one's social life is organized.

In my view, holidays that claim to be universal should be constituted as inclusive things. But as Christmas changes from being church-centred to family-centred, more and more people are left out; as Thanksgiving goes from being harvest-centred to family-centred people are excluded. Valentine's Day is the worst of these festivals because it excludes a larger portion of the population and offers no alternative means of observance to those whom it excludes.