Today is Valentine’s Day

Last Tuesday, the local Chinese community celebrated its New Year. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday that is observed with a solemn ceremony wherein a priest marks the foreheads of the faithful with ashes from the coconut palms used in last year’s Palm Sunday, saying these words: "Repent and believe in the Gospel." It is supposed to mark the first day of the 40 days of Lent. Today is St. Valentine’s Day, a Protestant saint person of lovers. Lent is supposed to be a season of fasting and penitence. Valentine’s Day is simply out of place during that period. This is what happens when traditions come from conflicting cultures.

Valentine’s Day is actually the feast day of saints who were both named Valentine. But the custom associated with the day had nothing to do with the lives of the two saints. The true origin of Valentine’s Day is the ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia that took place on February 15. The Lupercalia honored the god Pan and the goddess Juno. Pan was represented with the upper part of a man and the body and legs of a goat. He was the symbol of fecundity. Juno was represented as a goddess but was also the special protectress of women and marriages. The main purpose of the celebration was to remedy barrenness in women. When Christianity spread, churchmen converted pagan festivities into Christian fiestas. And so in 496, Pope Gelasius transformed the Lupercalia to Saint Valentine’s Day.

It was the earliest English settlers that brought Valentine’s Day to the United States. Way back on February 14, 1629, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, wrote his wife: "Thou must be my Valentine."

The most sensational romantic actor of the silent moving pictures was an Italian named Rodolfo D’Antonguolla who migrated to the United States at the age of 18 to work as a landscape gardener. He could not find employment, so he became a window washer. Later, he became a professional dancer and went to Hollywood in 1919. One reason he became a great romantic star was because he used Rudolph Valentino as his screen name.

The tradition most associated with Valentine is the sending of Valentine cards. The sales of Valentine cards is second only to that of Christmas cards. In 1993, a billion Valentine cards were sold all over the world. Now there are already Filipino Valentine cards. One we read said:

Sugar is sweet
Puso is heart
Put them together
You are my sweetheart.