dastranger: Dear Editor, Bashfulness they say is part of faith. It thus follows that one who is shameless is one who suffers the disease of thinking he or she fell from the sky and even that sky was not created On the 14th of February little girls and confused women will dress in red; randy boys and irresponsible men would have secured a “val” who they will play Romeo and Juliet with but as the idiot from Calabar who made the song puts it “all I want is your waist” hence illicit sex is the end game… There are a number of reasons why Valentine is only second to Christmas in terms of the scale of celebration at least among Christians or perceived Christians; 1) IGNORANCE: Ask almost anyone who celebrates Valentine the Origin of Valentine and they cannot tell you; they just follow. The best you can get out of these empty heads are conflicting reports as taught them by one American-wanna-be radio presenter who desperately speaks from her nose. It is the same way you can go around our society and ask the average youth what his first three objectives in life are and I wish you Goodluck finding someone who has a clue. No pun intended So what really is Valentine’s Day? Let me share this quick quiz: Valentine is: 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 This confusion over its origin led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine’s Day from the Roman calendar of official worldwide Catholic feasts. So you find that not only is it that the people who mark Valentine are ignorant of its origin; Valentine itself is a celebration of absolutely NOTHING What is however clearly in history is what the old World Book Encyclopedia (Valentine’s Day. Volume 19. 1966, pp.205-206) states: “…the customs of the day have nothing to do with the lives of the saints. They probably come from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the god of nature…The Romans celebrated their feast of Lupercalia as a lovers’ festival for young people. Young men and women chose partners for the festival by drawing names from a box…After the spread of Christianity, churchmen tried to give Christian meaning to the pagan festival. In 496, Pope Gelasius changed the Lupercalia festival of February 15 to Saint Valentine’s Day February 14. But the sentimental meaning of the old festival has remained to the present time. Historians disagree about the identity of St. Valentine”. Today not even the Pope can tell you which of the Saint Valentines (there are about 3 of them) is being “honoured” on the 14th of February…IGNORANCE IS VALENTINE AND VALENTINE IS IGNORANCE |