The most popular gift to give on Valentines Day is chocolate. Its lovely, but a bit predictable, isn’t it? It’s a commercially driven day with the pressure to give and receive cards and confectionary, which just earns money for others. And its not like Valentines Day had particularly romantic origins anyway.
In fact, did you know that originally the 14th February was a Pagan festival for fertility involving rituals and sacrifice? You don’t see much of that on the Hallmark card range, do you?
In 496 AD the Pope made it into a Christian feast day for Saint Valentine. Valentine would secretly perform marriages for persecuted Christians. He was eventually caught and beheaded on 14th February. Sounds more like a horror film than a love story!
Then in the 14th Century, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the poem ‘Parlement of Foules’ which was about birds choosing mates on 14th February. So now we have bird mating. Hmm.
It wasn’t until the 19th Century that Hallmark started mass producing cards and suggesting that we should give them to our loved ones on Valentines Day. And just like that, 14th February became the day for love and romance, and all the pagans, beheadings and bird mating were brushed under the table.
Don’t get me wrong, the idea of showing our partners that we love them is great, but it shouldn’t just be on Valentines Day. It should be all year round. Instead, I think its time that 14th February morphed into something different yet again. A different way to ‘show the love’.
Fortunately, somebody has decreed that 14th February is now also International Book Giving Day, which makes me very happy. It’s an initiative to share the love of reading by giving books to others and promoting literacy. We are encouraged to give books as gifts, especially to those who may have limited access to them. It is basically a celebration of the power of books to educate, entertain and inspire, and the fact that it coincides with Valentines Day, makes it the perfect way to show love and affection by sharing the gift of literature.
Now, in case my husband is reading this, or any other secret admirers for that matter, I’d love to receive a book for Valentines Day. Although not necessarily anything by Chaucer, as I’m not that keen on birds. Oh, and if you really must buy me chocolate, then Lindor is my favourite.
Sherry x
