From The Gory Origins of Valentine’s Day: The holiday began as a feast to celebrate the decapitation of a third-century Christian martyr, or perhaps two. So how did it become all about love?...
On Feb. 14, sweethearts of all ages will exchange cards, flowers, candy, and more lavish gifts in the name of St. Valentine. But as a historian of Christianity, I can tell you that at the root of our modern holiday is a beautiful fiction. St. Valentine was no lover or patron of love.Read the rest HERE.
Valentine’s Day, in fact, originated as a liturgical feast to celebrate the decapitation of a third-century Christian martyr, or perhaps two. So, how did we get from beheading to betrothing on Valentine’s Day?...
Or, perhaps you're like me and prefer to think of Valentine's Day in a more lighthearted and a more romantic way:
Oh, for those days of more laughter and less doom-saying!
Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!
Love hurts.
ReplyDeleteJez,
DeleteBut when doesn't hurt it's GLORIOUS!
Yes, AOW, but only for "brief shining moments" tucked way in the generally pervasive gloom.
DeleteThe possibility of experiencing the Joy of Human Love is the "CARROT on the STICKk" that keeps the huan "DONKEY" forever on the move.
jez, said: "Love hurts."
DeleteThen you're doing it wrong!
};^D=
DeleteRoses are red; violets are blue.
ReplyDeleteDon't fall in love, or you'll lose your head too!
~ St. Vitus of Chopping-Blockston
Franco,
DeleteBut is falling love worth the price?
Indeed it is! True Love is The Pearl of Great Price. It brings vitality, color, intrigue, adventure and occasional fleeting moments of incredible joy at unpreictable intervals.
DeleteLife would be dull, gray and utterly humdrum without it, yet no one can experience True Love without having to make Great Sacrifices while experiencing much Storm and Stress along the way.
PS: My reference to "losing your head too" was, of course, a mirthful attempt to make light of the horrific experience suffered by the original St. Valentine.
DeleteGive All to Love
ReplyDeleteGive all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-fame,
Plans, credit and the Muse,—
Nothing refuse.
’Tis a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent:
But it is a god,
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.
It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward,—
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.
Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,—
Keep thee today,
Tomorrow, forever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
First vague shadow of surmise
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free;
Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.
Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Nothing wrong with celebrating it with the one you love, but holidays imo are all about increasing sales of related products.
ReplyDeleteNot really, Kid. The roots of all our traditional holidays are very ancient. All started in the Church, and all have inherents meanings valuable tor us to learn and live by.
DeleteIt's true that in the twentieth-century, because of the emergence of popular culture, cheap publications and the avertizing industry as developed by Eddie Bernays (an evil genks in my opinion) that soon accompanied them, the commercialization,and therefore cheapening and vuarization of the original meaning and purpose of these events began in earnest, and eventually took over, andbecame a travesty of any religious significance these special days once had. NEVERTHESS, a little bit of STUDy based on CURIOSITY and prayerful consideration about our past could easily revive the higher purpose the Holy Days were meeant to have.
"Holiday," I believe, is a corruption of "Holy Day."
A Hallmark Holiday.
ReplyDeleteEd,
DeleteEven so....
Ed, please take a look at what I just wrote to Kid above.
DeleteI dig your stuff. How are the hands relative to your ability to play and love of music?
ReplyDeleteKP,
DeleteI've been a fan of Dean Martin since I was a teenager. More years ago than I care to think about!
I have no problems with my hands. No arthritis or other malady! Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to practice: caregiving my husband since his stroke in 2009, working, sorting and cleaning out This Old House in preparation for moving, etc. What's more, sitting for long periods at the piano is problematic, especially with regard to using the damper pedal. I have, however, found that I can sit at the piano longer now that I use a pillow very similar to this one and/or a TENS unit.
And my love of music? It has drastically waned -- due to medication I take, specifically, gabapentin, and life stresses. In Musicophilia, Dr. Oliver Sacks discussed that particular side effect of gabapentin. But I still have times that my love of music returns.
Now it's my turn to ask you something. Why did you ask those two questions?
Hello AOW. I love Dean Martin as well. Thanks for the update. I recall the medical struggles of your husband. You are fortunate to have one another. I was prescribed Neurontin about ten years for radiculopathy but never filled it. My wife is a music therapist, jazz sax player and classical pianist and has studied Dr. Oliver Sachs at a conservatory decades ago and read all of his works. He is the big cheese. "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" is a great one. The medicine appears to be effective for radiculopathy (nerve pain), stroke victims and some dementias like Alzheimer's. Back to your Q about the hands. I am still learning where to place comments using 'reply'. The question about hands was meant for FreeThinke who I guessed was Franco Aragosta? I am so glad you answered as I have learned more tonight and more about this community. Best.
DeleteKP,
DeleteFreeThinke who I guessed was Franco Aragosta?
Yes.
Dr. Oliver Sacks is definitely the big cheese when it comes to neuroscience! I found him years ago when I stumbled across The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, a book which has helped me to understand some of my students' neurological differences, including Tourette Syndrome. I read my paperback copy of the book until it fell apart and now have the book on my Kindle.
I'm sure that you're familiar with the film Awakenings, which is somewhat based on the book of the same title by Dr. Sacks. That film is one of my favorites; it makes me laugh and cry -- and is and one of the few movies I have on DVD.
About my husband...He is quite frail now since two rounds with idiopathic pancreatitis. He was pretty much in a medical facility of one type on another from September 19, 2018 until January 7, 2019. The damage to his pancreas was quite extensive, and resulted in two large pseudocysts, and certain complications of diabetes. Life is full of land mines!
I hate to admit it, but James Carville is 100 percent right. Bernie Sanders is going to get beat down once again...so who will win the nomination for the Democrats?
ReplyDeleteCrazy Uncle Bernie isn’t a Democrat and the party isn’t smart enough, or doesn’t have the coglioni to boot these Socialists out on their Red Asses. .
Essentially the Trump hate has destroyed the Democrats. The economy is good but Trump says mean things about Tlaib, AOC, Omar, Warren, Waters, Schumer, and the rest of them... Not that any of the above lunatics are innocent parties, and the other deranged Trump haters who thinks that the Bidens are innocent.
The “Impeachment” goal wasn’t really to impeach Trump, as they knew all the time that it wasn’t going to work because the bottom line was that the Senate was going to find Trump NOT GUILTY. . It was to clear a path for Biden, or any other opponent who could beat Donald trump. Whoever did this is seriously delusional thinking that Bernie Sanders could win, and if he did win, then the consequences would be much to drastically wrong for their party.
I really think that Democrats will come to their senses and nominate Mayor Pete.
But if it will be Sanders, he will destroy the Democrats. So when Bernie goes down in flames are the Democrats going to blame the Russians AGAIN?
Mayor Pete isn't the Democrats "coming to their senses"... it's Democrats returning to their RED roots!
DeleteUp until Mayor Pete's dad's death last year, Joseph Buttigieg was the nation's premeire Gramsci translator/scholar and communist sympathisizer.
DeleteFJ,
DeleteYep! Finding that info is easy, but who is bringing it out in the media?
Just trying to do my part… but you're right. No one.
DeleteIt seems that the right-wing press only starts to ring alarm bells when the commie candidate leads in the delegate count.
DeleteLucianne is featuring the story. The recently bought - out Drudge Report is ignoring it.
DeleteFascinating piece of history AOW....Now, forever, this tidbit will remain with me- every passing Valentines day...... :)
ReplyDeleteA FATHER'S WHIMSICAL ADVICE TO A LOVE-SICK DAUGHTER:
ReplyDelete____ To a Daughter Smitten ____
Desist, my darling dimwit; do not wed
On impulse born of weather fair this June.
No one should be by sun and roses led.
Only till you’ve weathered a typhoon,
Tornado, or at least a spate of sleet,
Will your prospective mate reveal his soul.
Easy times glide by, deny, delete
Demands that demonstrate a nature whole.
Intoxicated by the scents of spring
No common sense could nonsense overwhelm.
Joy seems imminent, yet blistering
Unhappiness might well be at the helm.
None a nun would have you be, and yet
Eden is not ours to gain, my pet.
~ FreeThinke
[Please note the acrostic]
KP! It's been many YEARS since we talked –– much too long.
ReplyDeletePlease write to me at my blog.
>Franco Aragosta, il pesciatore saggio@BLOGSPOT.com<
A LOT has happened since last we met. I'm eager to hear your news, and happy to share mine, if you're interested.
I've posted quite a few of my recordings on YouTube –– all classical music –– but they might interest you, even so.
AOW could tell you how to find them. So could SilverFiddle.
Recordings! That is fine news. I'll come check it out. Good to hear from you. Warm regards.
DeleteGlad you responded, KP! Ask AOW or SilverFiddle, –– or Z ––, how to get to my YouTube recordings. Some are old, but I made three new ones of Big Works of beethoven and Brahms, and one of the Chopin Etude in Thirds since spring of 2017. I'll be 79 in about 6 weeks, so doing this despite old age and with all the problems I've had has been quite a feat. A good way to End My Earthly Existence. Been a great adventure, though never easy. Hope you are still in fine fettle?
DeleteDo visit my blog.
KP,
DeleteMy email address is in the right sidebar. Feel free to contact me.
A CLASSIC LOVE POEM, PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUSt ONE EVER WRITTEN:
ReplyDelete_____ How Do I Love Thee? _____
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
A PETRARCHEAN SONNET WRITTEN TO POET ROBERT BROWNING WHO WOULD BECOME HER HUSBAND.
If you've never experienced the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street, it was made into an excellent moviein 1934 with Nrma Shearer, Frederic March and Charles Laughon.
A later version made in 1957 featured Jennifer Jones, Bill Travers and John Gielgud. In my opinion it is equally as good as the original.
Bother were based on a p[lay of the same name, which I'd love to see some day.
Franco,
DeleteOne of my favorite sonnets!
AD NOW WE MOV FROM THE SUBLIM TO THE PERNICIOUS
ReplyDeleteA Campaign Valentine
__ from Bill to Hillary __
Your voice is shrill
Your ass is wide
It sways and slaps
From side to side.
Like sails it flaps,
Then droops where it divides.
You’re losing big
To my chagrin,
You drooling pig;
Losing's a sin.
Your campaign's a form of cruel harassment
Sure to lead to my embarrassment
I'll take a pill;
You run and hide.
I feel quite ill.
Time to play Taps
For you, my bride.
I've had my fill
We both need naps.
Once in the White House
Full of Power
I'll play the louse
At the midnight hour
You, my dear shall have a fall
Down the staircase in the hall
And never rise again at all,
And then I'll summon Bettie Currie
To take her job back in a hurry
There'll be no need for me to worry
Bettie's warm and wet and furry.
Monica was just HER cover.
Bettie's always been my lover.
So gnash your teeth and snarl and whine
Next year you'll be no Valentine,
Just rotting flesh beneath a slab
Of marble, icy cold and drab.
And when they ask, "Who lieth there?"
I'll say, “Not one for whom you'd care.
Her mind was warped by bad tuition;
She was wretched at coition;
Poor thing had nothing but ambition.”
~ Anne Animus
Franco,
DeleteGood one!
AND A CLASSIC SAGA IN SONG OF A LOVE GONE TRAGICALLY WRONG
ReplyDeleteMiss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today, madam
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today
She is sorry to be delayed
But last evening down in Lover's Lane
She strayed, madam
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today
When she woke up and found
That her dream of love was gone, madam
She ran to the man who had led her so far astray
And from under her velvet gown
She drew a gun and shot her love down, madam
Miss Otis regrets, she's unable to lunch today
When the mob came and got her
And dragged her from the jail, madam
They strung her upon the old willow across the way
And the moment before she died
She lifted up her lovely head and cried, madam
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today
~ Cole Porter (1891-1964)
REPORTEDLY "MISS OTIS REGRETS"WAS DASHED OFF ON A PAPER NAPKIN WHEN FRIENDS DARED PORTER TO WRITE A NEW SONG BEFORE THEIR GROUP FINISHED EATING LUNCHEON ONE DAY. IT'S BEEN WIDLY RECORDED BY MOST OF THE JAZZ GREATS OF PORTER'S ERA AND BEYOND.