Valentine's Day is Overrated / Lifetime

We had just about finished eating our mayonnaise salads and redecorated the Christmas tree when hearts started to fill every shop window.
Some believe that February 14th is the most romantic day of the year; while others are ready to boycott the money-making holiday for it has become so over-rated.

Valentine's Day is originally a Catholic holiday to celebrate St. Valentine who was martyred in Roman Days. Like most religious traditions, it is being usurped by a secular world. Of course, like most Christian religious traditions, it has pagan origins.

Valentine's Day stems from the Roman festival "Lupercalia" to celebrate fertility (Romans seem to keep fertility holidays quite often during a year). Those pagans just had an advantage to live long before us and had time to invent all holidays. Shall we reject all traditions that stem from Ancient Rome and Greece? No way. Among others they include Christmas and New Year.

The worst thing with St Valentine’s Day – as it is with many holidays nowadays – is how it became heavily commercialized, how we are forced to buy what we don’t need or want, how we are made to believe that our love must be showed in this particular day through overpriced roses, rip-off cards, gigantic teddy bears, candlelit dinners in fancy restaurants.

See yourself – from the beginning of February the store fronts, kiosks and markets are filled with cuddly stuffed toys and heart-shaped anything – from cards and foodstuff to jewelry and handbags.

Sharp-tongued journalists call that day “St.Hallmark Day”. Hallmark and other greeting card companies have successfully been able to turn simple holidays...

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