At Lella's we adore the "traditional" Valentine's Day. February 14th, was once a celebration only for lovers. Over time Valentine’s Day has been hi-jacked by greeting card companies and mass marketers. A duped society began expressing their “love” for nearly everything! Just look at any store, in January, you will find Valentine greetings designed for everyone, from your boss to your pet. Ok, so maybe your boss is your lover, we are hoping your dog is not!
In keeping with the traditional celebration of St. Valentine's Day ~ for lovers, we went on a quest to discover who this saint of lovers was. Just as "whom" we acknowledge remains muddled; it appears as though the actual origins of the February 14 celebration are too.
Thousands of years old, the pages of recorded history about Valentine remain jumbled. We rather fancy the version of a Roman priest, who defies orders from the Emperor Claudius II, not to marry young couples. You see, Claudius believed single men made better fighting soldiers than men with wives and children. The Emperor outlawed marriage for young strong men. Valentine continued to perform weddings and found himself imprisoned and sentenced to death for his crimes. As fate would have it, Valentine himself fell in love, with his jailor's daughter. The legend is, before his death, the priest wrote to his lover and signed, "From your Valentine".
A classic tale of lover's romance! What ~ could possibly be more romantic than young lovers uniting in secrecy? The defiance of a man, obviously a romantic himself ~ actually put to death for aiding the desires of young lovers to marry. One can nearly feel the heartache of a woman, in love with a doomed man. The only thing missing is the happy ending! Hollywood could re-write the story to include a jail break, mere hours before Valentine's head were to come off. He and his lover would ride off into the sunset...
A box office hit!
Ok, so not every Hollywood love story ends in happily ever after. Many of the biggest hits end in tragedy. As modern romantic movies go, Titanic is agonizing. Who could have predicted just as Rose discovers true love with Jack; the writers would kill him off? We all knew the ship was going down ~ but Jack too? Say it is not so! It made our hearts ache and wish for a re-write!
Other than St. Valentine himself, Eros "is one" with the day of love. Without his arrows, how would love find us? As time evolved, so did Eros. In early Greek mythology, Eros was the perfect man, physically. Surely, all of the females lusted for him. Venus, his mother, was none too happy when Eros fell in love with a mere mortal. The Goddess of Love took it upon herself to change his destiny. That, is another tale with more than one version complete with arrows of lead and gold. In the end, somewhere along the lines, the Greek transformed, Eros. The once, most handsome God of his time, became the pudgy little arrow shooting angel, we all have come to know and adore as Cupid.
In fairness, we should also mention, Saint Marius, whom history tells, helped Valentine unite young lovers. Exactly what happened to him or why the day of romance is not St. Marius Day, who knows?
On the subject of Valentine’s Day, one cannot help but wonder ~ what narcissist decided it would be “cute” for young schoolchildren to trade Valentines? Imagine the anguish of a child holding a foil covered shoebox, wondering how many cards they would or would not get! Poor little darlings would probably grow up and live like Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe. Well, now that is another Valentine’s Day story in itself.
Oh, right ~ the date, February 14. More murky water. Possible scenarios include the anniversary of St. Valentine’s death. The first date of a Roman fertility festival. The beginning of bird mating season, seriously.Admittedly, romantics everywhere prefer “Happily Ever After“. Of course, it is not so, in reality or even mythology. Who says it is not ok to dream? Our wish for all lovers, young and old, if only for a day, departs from realism; dream a little romantic dream. Share a little romance and golden arrows with your lover on St. Valentine's Day.
As Sean Connery said ~ “Love may not make the world go round, but I must admit that it makes the ride worthwhile.”
Our pick for romantic movies
Classics: Gone With The Wind & Roman Holiday
Modern: When Harry Met Sally & The Notebook
Romantic FoodStrawberries, bananas, whipped cream, chocolate, oysters
Romantic CocktailsLadies: White Russian, Gimlet
Gents: Gibson Martini, Scotch
Share: Champaign or your favorite bottle of wine
More romantic suggestions ~ Our very own “Cupid’s Capers” can be seen here.
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