The 14th of February each year is a day renowned as a day of professing your love to someone.
A day when courage can be conjured up to express one’s feelings of love for a person.
A note from a secret admirer, a proposal of marriage or a confirmation of love for a person you have been with for a long time.
Valentine’s Day or more correctly St Valentine’s Day is a day filled with the essence of love. So where did it come from?
History of St Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day was not recognised as a romantic day until the 14th century. One of the day’s origin may have taken it’s name from a priest named Valentine that was martyred about 270ce by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus.
According to legend, the priest signed a letter to his jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended, signed your Valentine as a farewell just before he was to be executed. It is said that he also healed her from blindness.
Another story is that St Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to prevent the husbands from having to go to war. It is for this reason that it is recognised as a day of love.
It was around the 14th and 15th century that it became a day of romantic love. Courtly love flourished with the onset of the love birds in early Spring.
A Valentine Note
In 18th century it became a day where couples expressed their love by gifting flowers, confectionery and sending greeting cards known as Valentines. Before the printing of cards, a Valentine was a handwritten note sent to the loved one. Now of course it has become a commercial production.
Symbols of Valentine’s Day are a cupid, the Roman God of Love, heart’s traditionally the seat of love and a Valentine Key, to unlock the admirer’s heart. A red rose , the flower of beauty and love is the choice for gifting.
Not only for lovers
Not only is Valentine’s Day the most popular day for Weddings and proposals but has now spread to reach further into the community. Friends and relatives can show their affection for one another on this day along with school children exchanging Valentine’s to one another.
A sweet twist to Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day 1974 was an ironically twisted day for me. I was the mature age of 9 and had been keen on my childhood sweet heart for over three years now. Our family’s new one another very well and we all went to swimming club together. He was my boyfriend and I, his girlfriend. At recess in the school yard, he excitedly gave me a Valentine’s present. Coming over to me he put his hands in his pocket and pulled out a bar of yellow Velvet soap. It wasn’t just a plain bar though, he had taken his precious boy time to engrave a love heart with an arrow through it with his and my initial.
I was love struck and thought it was the sweetest thing I had ever been given. I felt like I was the special 9-year-old girl who was the only one to have a boyfriend give her a Valentine’s present. (In fact, I think I was the only one at that young age to have a boyfriend!). With a smile on his face, he leant over and gave me a kiss on the cheek and then ran off. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
After school that afternoon, mum had to take me to the doctors as I had been losing a lot of weight and was always thirsty and tired. Doing a urine test, the doctor said I had Diabetes and had to go straight to the children’s hospital .
I spent two weeks in there learning how to give myself needles and test my wee for sugar. So, Valentine’s Day is my diabetic anniversary with the remembrance of a bar of engraved Velvet soap by my beloved.
How ironic is that? Next year is my 50th anniversary of my sweet sugary diabetes! People used to get a letter from the queen for surviving diabetes for 50 years.
So, I think I am doing rather well, don’t you?
Thankyou for joining me for a brief history and memory on this day of love. Remember to tell the people around you how much you appreciate them and wish them heart-felt love.
Love comes in many forms and has no limits, the more you give out the more you receive in return and makes the world a better place for us all. You can gift and give love and appreciation to yourself too, after all we need to love ourselves before we can truly love anyone else.
My heart-felt love goes out to you my fellow travellers.
Thankyou for joining me once again.
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Tell me what you would like me to talk about. I am here for you my
fellow travellers and want to know what you enjoy reading.
Until next time…
Love and laughter
Colleen Ashby
Great resources to investigate:
Diabetes Australia
Transplant Australia
visionaustralia.org
sed.visionaustralia.org
Donate life
Mental Health Australia
Beyond Blue