Babies Are So, So Cute!

Lets admit it, most of the time a baby of any sort, animal or human, is adorable and all you can do is look at it, make ridiculous faces so they react and talk baby talk.

In turn, I always thought that the Valentine baby boy, Cupid, was absolutely adorable especially with his wings and that little bow and arrow. And why shouldn’t he be cute? He represented love on the day of love, Valentine’s Day! A magical baby boy who flies around shooting arrows at people, powerful arrows of love.

I have been known to put hearts and Cupid on my school Valentine’s boxes. I just loved him and there was no reason to not think he was the ‘baby of the year’ since he held the power of love!

Then social media happened and the access of history at your fingertips evolved. I found out that despite his infant form, that baby, widely known as Cupid, began his mythological life as a man who supposedly had more power than any god. Say what??

In the Greek literary sources that we have access to, Cupid is depicted as just unconquerable. Richard Martin, a classics professor at Stanford University, said, “Whatever he wants to happen, happens, and he causes disaster.”

How in the world can that cute baby that we all have grown to know and love cause disaster?

The original Cupid was more of a heartthrob than a cherub. Traced back to 700 BC, this character of legend was called Eros. Martin explained that Eros is the Greek word for desire. In the Archaic period, Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, would play with the hearts of mortals and gods to cause mayhem. Depicted as a young man in his late teens, he was considered both handsome and threatening, as he would use his power to make people fall in love. He supposedly could force the wrong people into love.

This is pretty far off from the modern depiction of this god as a playful little boy. I will be totally honest, I was a bit flabbergasted at the history I read and how sexual they portrayed Eros or Cupid.

When the Romans conscripted the Eros mythology, they chose to bring over the more recent iteration of the god as a cute little kid.

Valentine’s Day was already becoming popular in the 18th century, and by the turn of the 19th century, Cupid had become linked to the holiday for his love-creating abilities.

It may seem strange, still, that we would collectively associate a baby with a boy and arrow as a symbol of this extraordinarily popular holiday. But it’s actually quite simple. Though Roman and Greek traditions left us with this partly mischievous, partly powerful Cupid, he serves a different purpose in modern culture. The Greek conception of Eros as a god who used his power for ill is not what Cupid stands for today.

I am so very thankful I did not know the history of that little baby boy when I was younger. I would have been terrified in stead of looking at him as a symbol of love in the month of February.

So I believe I will continue to see Cupid as I always have and do my best to forget what I have learned, if I can!

We wish everyone a very happy Valentine’s Day and if you ever see an arrow flying about, make sure you are standing near the one you want to love.

Owner & Publisher, Connection Magazine

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