La La Land

Remember those good old days when you would open your bag to find a letter from that secret admirer on 14th of February or when your school declared an off on that day or when you left your home to attend that special class?

Oh, those golden days! We always had our excuses ready a week before the Valentine’s Day.

Going back to the origin of this day, it dates from the 14th century (how ironical!) This holiday has its origins from Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February.

The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasuis I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day.

Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 CE by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus.

According to legend, the priest signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness.

Other accounts hold that it was St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop, for whom the holiday was named, though it is possible the two saints were actually one person.

Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.

In modern history too, one can see how this day of love has evolved. The first Valentine’s Card was sent by 21 year old, Charles, Duke of Orleans. In 1415, while he was imprisoned in the tower of London, he sent a poem titled Farewell to Love to his 16 year old wife, Bonne of Armagnac. The poem goes as follows:-

Je suis desja d’amour tanné,

Ma tres doulce Valentinée,

Car pour moi fustes trop tart née,

Et moy pour vous fus trop tost né.

Dieu lui pardoint qui estrené

M’a de vous, pour toute l’année.

Je suis desja d’amour tanné,

Ma tres doulce Valentinée.

The translation of the above verse in English talks about his imprisonment as it will be too late when he gets out of the jail. And when he does, they will only have days to count and not to love. The literal English Transaction is as follows:-

I am already sick of love,

My very gentle Valentine,

Since for me you were born too late,

And I for you was born too soon.

God forgives him who has estranged

Me from you for the whole year.

I am already sick of love,

My very gentle Valentine.

However, the times have changed. If you ask someone who is in their 30’s about their Valentine’s Day, they will probably tell you about the allure of secrecy, mystery and romance this day holds. For them, this day would include the flashbacks of those hand written poems and red roses.

Minsi, from Steelburgernews.com, says that “In my time, at school there was the Valentine exchange among students by putting cards and chocolates, mainly homemade cards, into a red decorative box.

Now people send messages via the phone, some use social networks to send the message and don’t go the extra mile,” But nowadays, this day of love has lost its very essence.

Valentine’s Day seems to have been restricted to a WhatsApp text, a greeting card and a gift whose worth is measured on the terms of the price. Not only this, there is not much thought put into the gifts for the special ones.

Now, the month of love, February, has changed to the month of high business for firms like Archies, Hallmark etc. and for rose vendors.

It’s a day when high end restaurants are fully packed and resorts offer special packages for couples. With every passing year, one can witness the increase in commercialisation on this day.

In today’s society, according to the History channel, there are more than 150 million Valentine’s cards sent out annually, making it the second most popular card-sending holiday behind Christmas.

In 2012, Archie’s tied up with Switzerland based CowParade to introduce figurines in its galleries in India. And this is the year when the shares of Archie’s shot up tremendously. As per News18 article in 2012,

“Archies, which is engaged in the business of retailing gift items, greeting cards and stationary items, jumped 6.34 per cent to Rs 32.70.”

With rising prices, the price of a single red rose doesn’t fall back, adding more weight to your pocket. According to Floriculture Association of Nepal, a single stick of rose ranges from Rs. 50 to 100, as compared to last year’s range of Rs. 40 to 80.

The surge in price is due to increased demand of stick rose and price hikes of the flower worldwide, said Kumar Kasaju Shrestha, president at FAN.

Statistics state that, “According to the association, the country imported 160,000 stick roses worth Rs10.5 million for Valentine’s Day this year while the import stood at 150,000 roses worth Rs10.2 million last year. Similarly, 40,000 stick roses were produced domestically for the special occasion.”

Not only does the Valentine’s Day bring profits to the gifting businesses round the world but the week long festivities like Rose Day, Teddy Day and Chocolate Day (the list doesn’t end) do not fall back in contributing their shares.

In this fast paced world where everything is just a click away, this festival has lost its very essence. The beauty of this day seems to have gone with the importance of it.

What now seems as a formality was something that made our parents blush, years ago. But on the brighter side, this day is not only limited to lovers celebrating their bond but also to every pious relation on this planet.

Whether it is the love shared by best friends or the relation between a teacher and a student or two people from queer groups celebrating their freedom to love each other, this day has proved to be much more than just love. It stands for the respect, purity, trust and strength every relation bestows us with.