ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

✦ Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day

It’s that time of year that those of a romantic persuasion hold very close to their hearts. St. Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love, often to those closest to us but also to those admired from afar. It’s a day synonymous with gifts, flowers, chocolates, romantic candle lit dinners, greeting cards and, increasingly nowadays, heart shaped emojis!

Valentine’s Day is now a huge commercial occasion with close to an estimated US$24 billion spent around the world last year. It is also celebrated with different customs in different cultures and of ten on dates other than February 14th.

However, there is no concrete agreement on the actual origins of the occasion with several conflicting theories abound. Some believe it originated in Roman times when Emperor Claudius II reportedly had two separate men named Valentine beheaded on the day of February 14th in two separate years and it is believed the Catholic Church decided to honour the men as martyrs.

Others believe it was Pope Gelasius I who, in the 5th century, declared Valentine’s Day a replacement for the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which took place on February 13-15.

Then there are those that believe Valentine’s Day claimed its origins at a much later date, crediting the likes of William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer for romanticising the occasion.

Whatever its origins, the occasion grew in popularity over the years into the behemoth that it is today and is now celebrated in many different forms around the world.

While dinner, chocolates, flowers and a card are often the norm in places like Australia, the UK and US, in Wales lovers exchange intricately carved wooden spoons, known as lovespoons, on January 25th.

February 14th is also Winemakers Day in Bulgaria where couples raise a glass or two to celebrate their love and in Ghana the day of love also coincides with national chocolate day.

The Czech Republic celebrates Valentine’s Day on May 1st, a day that sees couples make a pilgrimage to the statue of poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague’s Petrin Parkto to steal a kiss beneath the cherry blossom trees, something that is believed to encourage good luck for the year ahead.

In Romania they celebrate on February 24th, ‘The day the birds are betrothed’, when boys and girls either head out to the forest to pick flowers or wash their face in snow, which is believed to bring health and happiness in the year ahead.

It is widely known that Japan is a patriarchalbased society, something evident on Valentine’s Day where it is the men who are showered with gifts, usually chocolate, on February 14th , with women having to wait a month to have the favour returned.

For some, however, celebrating love just one day per year simply isn’t enough. In Argentina they dedicate an entire week to the occasion and in South Korea they celebrate on the 14th day of each month with the likes of Rose Day in May, Kiss Day in June and Hug Day in December complementing Valentine’s Day on February 14th!

Whenever, wherever or however you celebrate Valentine’s Day, it is clear that love is the message and the answer and we at Brilliant-online hope you enjoy your special occasion with your loved one, with many more romantic-themed times ahead!