Yes, it is that time of year once again. Cheesy cards, heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolates, and flowers (specifically red roses). On Februarth the 14th, an average of: 150 million cards are sent (making it the second most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas), 190 million roses are sold, two million weddings are held, and about 11 thousand kids are born nine months later. Oh, and, the number 1 song played on Valentine's Day is, you guessed it, "Mary Me" by Train. This is the time for love and romance, and a time for Cupid to come forth as a symbol of loves power and sudden invasion of the heart.
We're all familiar with the cutesy images of the little baby boy who bares wings and a bow with heart-shaped arrows. He flies around causing mischief by shooting people with said arrows and making them fall in love. (If you ask me, I've always thought of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream to be rather similar to Cupid, even though it was a mistake in Puck's case and Cupid is just in it for a few laughs.)
However, there is a little bit more to Cupid that we think. For starters, the Latin word Cupid (which is actually "Cupido") literally means "desire." In Roman mythology, he was the son of Venus (the goddess of love) and Murcury (the messenger of the gods). He did, in fact, carry a bow and magical arrows that did exactly what we assume they did. Usually, he shot his arrows at people based on Venus' wishes.
According to the Roman mythology, one of these occasions was the point in time when Psyche, the youngest and most beautiful of a king's three daughters, began stealing the people's attention from Venus. An extremely jealous being, Venus ordered Cupid to shoot her and have her fall with a disgusting monster. However, when he actually laid eyes on her, he found her so beautiful that he could bare to do so and used the arrow on himself, in stead. Thus, Cupid fell in love with the mortal Psyche.
Now, on Psyche's side of the tale, no one would marry her. Her parents brought her to an oracle who told them he was destined to be wed to a monster. They then abandoned her on a mountain, where she was whisked away by the wind to a beautiful palace. When night fell, her husband came to her and ordered her not to look upon his face, saying he would only ever visit her by night. Despite having invisible servants that would do whatever she wished, Psyche began to miss her family. Somehow, she was able to convince her mysterious husband to allow her to see her sisters. He allowed this and her two older siblings went to the palace to visit her. Seeing her current way of life, they grew very jealous and convinced her to look at her husband, for he was a monster who wanted to eat her. Her only way to survive, they said, was to kill him while he slept.
When her husband returned, Psyche took a knife and lamp with the intent to murder him. However, one look upon his beautiful face made her realize who he was. Some of the wax from the lamp dripped onto his shoulder, and when Cupid awoke, he vanished. Psyche went in search of him, and, when all else failed, she went to his mother, Venus, for help. Now, Venus was still very jealous and angry, so she set four impossible tasks for Psyche to complete:
1) To sort out a huge pile of seeds. Psyche completed this with the help of some passing ants who agreed to sort it out into separate piles with her.
2) She must retrieve the Golden Fleece from some rams. A small green reed told her how to do this. She would need to wait until sundown, and, once the rams left, she would gather the strands from the bushes.
3) Fill a flask from the water of the River Styx (which was jagged, dangerous, and guarded by dragons). For this task, an eagle belonging to Jupiter (the king of the gods) flew to her and gathered the water.
4) For the final task, Psyche had to go to the underworld and bring back a box of Proserpina's (Persephone in Greek mythology) beauty ointment. Now, this was especially difficult and complicated since mortals couldn't enter the underworld unless they were dead. However, if she were to die she couldn't complete her task. She had gone to a tower to throw herself off, but a voice emanating from the tower itself told her how she could find the path to the underworld without death. It also gives her very specific instructions about the journey itself. So, Psyche travels to the underworld, giving a honeyed barley cake to the guardian of the underworld: three-headed dog Cerberus. The three heads fought over the cake, allowing her to pass safely. She also gives a gold coin to Charon, the ferryman who took souls across the River Styx. During this journey, she would come across a donkey-driver, drowning man, and the three Fates. All of which she could not allow to distract her from the journey. In order to return, she had a second of each item (the coin and cake) so she might return how she came.
Before Venus could assign any more deathly tasks to Psyche, Cupid discovered what was going on and persuaded Jupiter to make Venus stop her horrid treatment of the woman. Psyche was made a goddess and she and Cupid were married.
As usual for Greek and Roman mythology, the two stories run pretty much parallel aside from their names being different. Cupid is called Eros, Venus-Aphrodite, Jupiter-Zues, etc. Eros still ends up marrying Psyche in the end.
Now, Cupid and Eros actually have a Latin counterpart: Amor. For those of you who don't know, "amor" is Latin for "love." (That, as well as the same for several other languages with VERY similar words.) And, of course, he is used as a symbol for music, art, and love all over the globe.
So, with all the Greek and Roman mythology about Cupid/Eros, why is it called Valentine's Day?
Well, no one really knows for sure. Since the beginning of who knows when, February had been a month associated with love. As we all know, it is a day that is associated with Greek/Roman traditions, but also has Christian influences. As for it being named after Saint Valentine, well, first you'd have to figure out which one it was named after, if any individual.
There are at least three Saint Valentine's that have been recognized by the Catholic Church. Supposedly, one of them was a priest in Rome during the rule of Emperor Claudius II. The Emperor thought that single men made better soldiers than men who were married and had kids, so he made marriage illegal. However, Saint Valentine went against the law and kept preforming marriages behind the scenes. When he was found out, Valentine was sentenced to death.
There are many other stories about the mysterious Saint Valentine. For example, he sent the very first "valentine" to a woman he had fallen in love with. Supposedly, this was the daughter of the man who had jailed him and he had signed the letter "From your Valentine." The oldest surviving written valentine is a poem by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife that he wrote during is imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Based on these legends, Saint Valentine was left in a mist of romance. During the Middle Ages, he was one of the most popular English and French saints.
Now, there are also several theories as to why we celebrate the holiday in the middle of the month. One of the theories is that it is the day Saint Valentine was either buried or died. Another is that it's placement was an effort to get rid of or "Christianize" the Lupercalia (a Pagan holiday on February 15th). At the end of their celebration (which included sacrifices for fertility and well-being, as well as bloody hides of rams being rubbed on women and crops to bring fertility to both for the next year), the women put their names in a urn and all the available men would draw a name. (A tradition similar to the "keys in the bowl" thing where the the keys are drawn and whoever owns those keys goes home for the night with the person that drew them, except it would be for a year.) This usually ended in marriage, which adds to the idea of romance of the day.
So, apparently Christians were offended and wanted to end it. The holiday eventually became illegal and Saint Valentine's Day took over.
Valentine's Day (and February in general) are still very romantic times. Now that I'm done giving you information, I'm going to head into a little bit of opinion. The crazy statistics about the buying, sending and giving of gifts because it's a "necessary" part of Valentine's Day honestly seem foolish to me.
So what? You didn't get a Valentine. I understand that sending yourself a card makes you feel special but, c'mon. Is that really necessary? It's just a stupid waste of money. Maybe you don't have a lover to call your Valentine, but you don't have to be IN love to experience it or have a Valentine. I have several Valentines, ranging from my mom and siblings to my very good friends. The love one shares with these people is just as real as the love one shares with a significant other, even though they are all different types of love.
This year, whether you really are listening to "Marry Me," sitting on one knee, and looking up at the person you plan on spending the rest of your life and raising a family with, or if you're jamming out to "Single Ladies," holding your left hand up and shaking it, remember that Valentine's Day may be a celebration of all types of love. Don't forget to celebrate the love you have of everyone near and dear to you, and make sure that ALL your Valentines know that they really are loved.
Hannah Haugen
The Daily Blahgger
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