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rabbitcruiser · 2 years

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Valentine’s Day

Love and romance. Candy and flowers. Cards and gifts. Dinner and dancing.

Valentine’s Day comes along with a whole host of plans and accoutrements that are meant to all boil down to one thing: Love. And it all comes in the name of one man, St. Valentine, who was an interesting (and perhaps slightly misunderstood) character in history.

It’s time to learn about and celebrate Valentine’s Day!

History of Valentine’s Day

While some people believe that the history of this day is pretty clear, the reality is that the story behind St. Valentine’s Day is covered in a great deal of mystery. Tradition hails February 14 (and perhaps even the whole month of February!) as a time for love and romance, with both ancient Roman and Christian backgrounds.

But when the life of St. Valentine, the patron saint of this day, is considered, that’s when things tend to get a bit more murky. Some people don’t realize that the Catholic church actually has record of three of its own saints who went by the name of Valentine (or Valentinus) and all three died as martyrs.

Valentine’s Day Timeline

270 AD St. Valentine is martyred

Defying anti-marriage instructions given by Emperor Claudius II in order to build up the army, Valentine secretly supports and marries young couples which eventually leads to him being put to death. His death is said to have taken place on February 14.

496 AD First Valentine’s Day is recognized

Pope Gelasius decides to get rid of the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love, and chooses to replace it with a celebration in honor of St. Valentine, who was martyred a couple hundred years prior.

1382 Chaucer’s Poem, Parlement of Foules, is written

This poem contains the first known literature reference connecting romantic love with Valentine’s Day. In the text of the poem, Chaucer writes of birds who would pair off with a mate, but some people refute the idea that it is connected to Valentine’s Day because February is too early and cold for birds to be mating.

1700 Americans begin exchanging Valentines

During this century, the inspiration for romance and love on Valentine’s Day turns into the specific gesture of exchanging notes, poems and love letters which may have been delivered by hand or by the US Postal Service.

2010 Valentine’s Day is released in theaters

This romantic comedy has a star-studded cast with big names like Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and even Kathy Bates, and tells the story of several different romances between couples that happen all in one day. However, at the box office, the film doesn’t really get the greatest reviews from critics.

Valentine Promotes Marriage

Perhaps the most commonly held tradition around St. Valentine is related to the year 270 AD when Claudius II was the emperor of Rome. Known as “Claudius the Cruel”, the emperor who wanted to build a strong army but was having trouble because of the attachment the men had to their wives and families. His solution? Just ban engagement and marriage, of course!

The story goes that Valentine, a priest in Rome, disagreed with the decree from Claudius and decided to go ahead and perform marriages anyway, allowing young lovers to marry each other in secret. When discovered, Claudius ordered the public beating and beheading of Valentine, which took place on February 14. The church later honored him by naming him as a saint.

This same Valentine is rumored to have become friends with the daughter of his jailer. He is said to have left her a note signed, “From Your Valentine”. This may explain the idea of asking someone “Will You Be My Valentine?”.

Less common are the other two saints also called Valentine, one who was a bishop in what is now Terni, Italy, and another who was martyred in a Roman province of Africa.

Feast of Lupercalia

It’s possible that even before Valentine, the priest, was martyred on February 14, the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan feast of love, was celebrated around the same time. One tradition that went along with this festival is that the names of women were put into a box and drawn out by the men that they would be matched up with, letting chance (or fate!) take the lead.

By 496 AD, Pope Gelasius was tired of such pagan celebrations, so he declared that the Feast of Lupercalia would be canceled and, instead, St. Valentine’s Day would be celebrated on February 14. As time passed, this day became one where lovers would exchange poems, cards, notes and flowers, singing songs and performing other romantic gestures.

How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

Celebrating Valentine’s Day comes with all sorts of inherited romantic traditions which can certainly be fun and bring lots of joy! But this is also a great way to get creative with showing people how much they are loved–even if it isn’t a romantic relationship.

Try out some of these ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day:

Make a Card or Gift for Someone

Whether it’s a romantic partner or just a friend, Valentine’s Day is a great day to say “I Love You”. Hand made cards and gifts are especially welcome when it comes to showing someone how much they are cared for. January is a dark and quiet month anyway, so there’s plenty of time to prepare homemade gifts from a hobby like knitting a scarf, braiding a friendship bracelet, embroidering a towel, painting a picture or simply making a card.

Send Roses for Valentine’s Day

With delivery services abounding in almost every town, getting flowers delivered has never been easier! Choose to send red roses that stand for passion; yellow for friendship; pink for sweetness; peach for sincerity or gratefulness; white for purity or loyalty; ivory for perfection; and lavender for a crush (or love at first sight!).

Make Dinner Reservations

It’s likely that a last minute idea for going out to dinner will result in ordering takeout to eat at home, because restaurants are basically always full on Valentine’s Day. But, think ahead (sometimes months ahead, depending on the popularity of the restaurant) and make a reservation for two at a romantic place.

Enjoy a Story About Love

Head over to a local bookstore or library and browse the selection of novels or biographies that might feature stories about love. Or, it might even be interesting to read a biography about the guys named Valentine!

Those who don’t have as much time to read could put on their favorite drama or rom-com movie and see what hijinx the main characters get into. Try out some of these films about love to get started:

Valentine’s Day (2010). Okay, maybe this one is obvious. And perhaps it’s not even a great film, but it would be remiss to leave out this one with an all-star cast including Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Ashton Kutcher.

The Notebook (2004). This quintessential romance by Nicholas Sparks can be read as a novel or watched in the film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

Pride and Prejudice (2005). This delightful take on the Jane Austen’s novel of the same name stars Keira Knightly, Rosamund Pike and Matthew Macfayden.

Think Like a Man (2012). Based on Steve Harvey’s book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, this rom-com features Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart and Meagan Good.

Get Creative for Valentine’s Day

This day doesn’t have to be the same as it’s always been. In fact, it’s a great day to try something new. Go on a mountain hike, visit a museum together, go whitewater rafting or learn how to play chess. Whatever would be fun and can be done in the spirit of love is the perfect activity for this day!

Valentine’s Day FAQs

When is Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day takes place every year on February 14. It started on this day in AD 496 when the pope established the holiday in Rome in honor of the martyred Saint Valentine, who was killed on February 14.

What to do on Valentine’s Day?

This day can be filled with opportunities to show people how much they are loved. Exchange cards, send someone flowers, make breakfast for family members or write a poem.

When was the first Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day is not actually a modern holiday, but has been celebrated in the middle of the month of February for more than 1500 years. The first Valentine’s Day was established by Pope Gelasius.

Is Valentine’s Day a global holiday?

Yes! Valentine’s Day is celebrated in various capacities in countries all over the world. From sharing a bottle of wine to giving gifts, from school children in America exchanging Valentines cards to people in Wales exchanging carved wooden spoons, this day is one that shows how people simply love the idea of love.

Who was Saint Valentine?

There is a bit of overlap in the stories as it seems there were at least three martyred saints with the name Valentine. However, the one most notably celebrated was a priest in Rome who defied the emperor’s anti-love commands and married young couples anyway.

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nathjonesey-75 · 13 days

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LV, NV - Part 2

As one with a complete disinterest in gambling, apart from an occasional flutter on “guess the correct score” – Las Vegas would not be a place I’d consider as a cultural paradise. Thankfully, having stayed in Paradise, the area of the Wynn-Encore at the northern end of the strip, I could discover more realistic cultural aspects to my liking. Having survived the first corporate function of the weekend on the Friday night, where my wife’s company held an incredibly decadent event at a nearby nightclub, where I made the most of the only place I’ll probably ever find measures of Macallan Single Malt to be free – I had all day Saturday to explore, before the next mystic reception.

Mrs Jones preferred a pool day, while I craved discovery. I can’t say that walking up – or down – the strip (highly confusing as Downtown was actually quite a way north from our base - so we travelled down the strip by up towards Downtown), past the other grand tacky resort hotels, I would say that not much other than the weather or overkill of everything was striking my inspiration buttons. Again, wandering among – occasionally dodging - the starry-eyed tourists, overdressed (or under-clothed) street entertainers; the only thing which stopped me in my tracks was a complete momentary chance realisation.

While passing each resort, moving south on the boulevard, I saw a group; maybe five or six people walking past me, wearing Tupac Shakur t-shirts. After a few steps, I wondered how far I was from the renowned block where he was shot in 1996. At that point of remembering what facts I could, I was convinced it would have been closer to midsummer, as my friend Lewis was only a block away and heard the shots, that year; then told me about it the day he returned, as we were both on our summer breaks from university. So, without Wi-Fi, I walked into The Cromwell casino bar to gain internet access. “Where was Tupac shot?” I typed. I scanned the first article which looked detailed on the results page, then read it and couldn’t believe what I found. Tupac was shot and killed on September the 7th, 1996; on the corner of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane.

Not only was I a couple of blocks away, while on East Flamingo Road, but it was September 7th, 2024. Twenty-eight years to the day. Was there a pilgrimage of fans, or even family or friends to remember him, that particular day? I’ll never know. This was quite a moment for me. While I had far more knowledge of Hip-Hop culture between the mid-eighties and earlier nineties, having grown up through that era before becoming immersed in House music culture from 1994 – it was one of the most significant happenings in the genre’s history from that decade and a controversial memory from my youth. On the previous afternoon, I’d eaten at El Segundo restaurant, near the Wynn and was served by; and talked at length with a guy who had moved from Oakland seven years previously. He told me the understandable reason why he left – the scarily unsafe way of life there. Also, he wasn’t the only person on the trip I’d met from Oakland, telling me the same thing. Shakur has had a street named after him in Oakland, after rising to fame while living there in the early nineties. Ironically having moved there to escape the crime in Baltimore.

These cultural aspects I mentioned, while staying in the Paradise area – certainly showed that it was no heavenly place, or soulful nirvana there; but in an abstract way, brought enlightenment and escape to people within the United States – and from outside the States. I loved the interaction with the Hispanic residents of Las Vegas, with the food options from Mexico proving so much better than the established and expected butter and oil-drenched options at fast food – and expensive hotels dotted everywhere I looked.

On that note, the topic of tips must be addressed. As a veteran hospitality worker, I have always supported a level of extra financial support for good service, Following the pandemic, bars and restaurants worldwide have been decimated in the service stakes, as retaining staff and the concept of good service – particularly noticeable in London, has been like trying to understand why the cost of living has been so absurd. You scratch your head and look around in bewilderment. Thus, in Vegas at this point; I hope that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas from a financial, tip-related culture mentality. As it makes a night out in London seem like buying drinks at a Carmarthenshire rugby club. The choice between giving a 18%, 22% and 25% tip, the banal extra delivery charge of a sandwich at poolside, as well as the tip – and this is all before tax is even added! So when you see that the cheapest beer option is $12, you would not only be excused, but encouraged to make your eyes roll backwards so that you look like you’re fainting. It could be the only way of being carried out and escaping extra costs.

Hardly a shock, then that the corporate events booked for both Saturday and Sunday – when the word “free” applied to food and drink, both were welcomed with our open arms. It was also just reward for my wife and her work colleagues, whose tireless work in the health industry gives the NHS a hope, even if their clients are blind to their blood, sweat and tears for getting the job done – and even if the reward is over five thousand miles away, in an unrelated backdrop. With the complexity of staying at a huge hotel casino complex, pre-arranged meal functions and getting around Vegas while there was so much under our noses – we enjoyed as much as we could of the locality. Some of the best cocktails I’ve ever had (especially The Mystic at the Tower Suites Bar, a mezcal-based flamer – although definitely not free!), the hotel pool, weather and views of the city. As much as navigating the strip by foot was the more interesting way of discovering – a taxi was quicker.

Reminiscent, this was; along with the strip’s retro-classical architecture and definitely hand-in-hand with the cost of bar tourism in Doha; where I spent four years, and Dubai – its Emirati neighbour. By land, the distance between the two was similar to the distance between Vegas and the California state border. Although ‘inspiration’ would be an ill-fitted word for matching the Nevada city’s influence on the Gulf cities, bearing in mind the religious constitution versus sin city’s “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” dirty secret pact, but the Middle Eastern cities have certainly copied a fair few high-end hotels and the strip’s layout in their aim for five-star, money-making touristry. One aspect Vegas, assuredly does not have (and I doubt highly that it would commence on the strip in my lifetime) is the weekend brunch at the Qatari and Emirati hotels. Expats in the Gulf replaced Western pubs from their original homes on weekends for a four-to-five-hour session at the five-star hotels where plates and more so wine and beer glasses were never empty – and nobody apart from pregnant ladies or natives, left sober. I’d imagine the one person £90-120 average price for a Friday afternoon between midday and 4pm, at a hotel in Qatar or the UAE would quadruple, should these smash-ups ever be introduced to the strip.

On Monday, despite having only limited time to do so, Mr and Mrs Jones travelled to the Arts District, on the edge of Downtown. It was something I’d wanted to have done over the weekend, as well as seeing more of Downtown, but as explained – everything took a while and seeing absolutely everything in four days, was impossible. Certainly, the antiques (in the American sense) shops, flea markets and places managed to fit in to four hours - added to time well spent on Main Street. Recycled Propaganda, Hop Nuts, Rebar and Able Baker were all places; with another few hours, we’d have happily spent more of our tourist time and money.

It was that half a working day, so separate to the Las Vegas Strip, where most of our long weekend was spent; which made me think “maybe I’ll be back, one day.” No gambling in sight, less extortion from the pocket and so much more undiscovered between there and the more renowned, seedy part of the city, where the older casino hotels such as Golden Gate and the Plaza (which was actually used as Biff’s in Back to the Future 2) are found. Plus, the conversations with local workers and the concierge at the Wynn, which mentioned little hidden gems on Fremont Street – reminded me that “everything takes a while”, so maybe another time.

We returned to the airport, a bit Vegassed-out between the walking in forty degree heat for the fourth day and the free drinks which had by now, taxed our bodies. Yet, we were satisfied with our experience. With no seeming delays to the flight this time, plus a seat with no passenger in front of me, I was confident of gaining sleep on the way back to London. Now is the perfect time to use the American word for ‘spanner’. Monkey Wrench. I had one next to me and one in front of me, in the way of two men in couples. Next to me was one with a twitch in his right hand. I was asleep, then I was not. Asleep, then not. All through the flight. Nudged constantly by a guy with whom I could sympathise with whichever condition I can assume it could have been. Otherwise, were it not a nerve-related condition, he deserved John Cleese’s giant fish from the fish-slapping dance – firmly swung across his face for the trouble. As for the spanner in front, he and his wife decided to shift right, leaving the left seat in the aisle empty, occupying the two right seats for no apparent reason. So, when he woke me up by tilting the seat back and trapping my left calf from lack of legroom, I had to strongly inform him with an angry tone – that I had no space. Bloody spanners, bloody people, bloody airlines and their seats increasingly arranged for midgets.

Needless to say, the Joneses – on our drive back down the M23 to Hove – expressed excitement for our only piece of furniture which followed us back from Australia four years previously – a superking sized bed. We returned from Heathrow thankful that our little dog, Ella had enjoyed her weekend with a new dog-sitter and companion – and had confirmation number 2024 (roughly calculated in days) that the superking bed is the best thing we shipped back from Melbourne, apart from our two dogs. Hasta la vista, Vegas.

#Las Vegas #Main Street #Arts District #Tupac Shakur #The Strip #East Flamingo Road #Nathan Jones #Downtown Las Vegas #Travel #corporate greed #Tips

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