Happy Valentine’s Day!
It is about this time of year when we begin to sense that spring is coming. We’ve forgotten July’s heat. Black oaks are still hanging on to a few remaining leaves. Most trees are stark and bare, and there’s little movement on the ground, save the plastic shopping bags that no one has had the heart to pluck from the brittle limbs. Ah, what a lovely time for Valentine’s Day.
I began to wonder whether the timing of the holiday was devised specifically for this heartless, cold, bare time of year or was simply the work of the Hallmark Company.
According to Wikimedia, Valentine’s Day was once a pagan festival named after two Christian martyrs named Valentine. In fact, there were so many religious martyrs named Valentine that, until 1969, the Catholic Church recognized 11 different Valentine’s Days. (more…)
