V Day Origin Stories

Art 'Longing' by Sooj

Oh Valentines Day, here you are again already. Another Hallmark hero looming over us and the lore behind the day swallowed up in a sea of satin hearts and overpriced roses. Tosh.

Neatly disguised by Hallmark in 1937 as a genius moneymaking ruse / saccharine day of loving declaration, this day was previously appropriated by the Catholic church to mark the occasion of their matrydom of St Valentine in the 5th century. That version is a delightful tale of how he was brutally dispatched to the afterlife for marrying heathens with hearts in their eyes outside the auspices of the church and state. Terribly romantic unless you are St Valentine.

As well we know, a great many modern observances have their origins in the ancient world, when honouring earth and sky, cycles and seasons, story and myth framed and informed life. Today we hark back to Lupercalia, when the Holy Roman Empire would honour their creation myth with a heady weekend of feasting and merrymaking and yes, lovemaking. More than your garden variety Roman orgy. Romulus and Remus were twin brothers who are the mythological foundation stone of the Empire. Suckled by a she-wolf as babes, the rites and celebrations honoured this divine lupine. The festival itself, which took place from 13 - 15 February, was an annual cleansing of the city state and an invocation to their many gods and godesses for protection, health and fertility.

A great many of the blessings sought by the Ancients hinge on love and trust, acceptance and surrender to forces greater than ourselves. In our modern world V Day has a tendency to underline our relationship status and point out with a flashing neon sign precisely how we feel about it. Whether you're looking for love, nursing your wounded heart back to health or truly madly deeply enmeshed, today is one for shining a warm soft light on the place you find yourself and wrapping yourself in lots of love.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
~ Rumi

Words c. Kerrie Basha, 2017