Cupid, in Roman mythology, was the son of Mars and
Venus, the god of war and the goddess of beauty. According to myth, he
was once sent on an errand (by his own manipulating mother) to go into a mortal’s (Psyche) bedroom to
destroy her with an arrow, poisoned to make Psyche fall madly in love
with an evil man. On his way in, Cupid fell and cut himself with his own
arrow – poisoning himself and becoming mentally ill. For the rest of his existence, he followed
other mortals around, shooting at them with the same poisoned arrows – in the
hopes that they would become as crazy as he was.
We have taken the Roman god, Cupid, and made him
the symbol of romance (and of Valentine’s Day) often depicted as an angel
with a bow and arrows.
The truth is that his character was a mama’s boy
who tripped on his way to poison a woman his mother was jealous of. He ended up falling madly in love with Psyche – the woman
Venus was trying to destroy. Cupid's weakness and stupidity make him a
good mascot for the oddest holiday of the year.
This misunderstood holiday is a day that we celebrate
our twisted version of romance. Commercially, it is the time where the prices
of chocolates, cards, and flowers are inflated.
Played well, it can be the perfect day to exploit romance, not celebrate
it.
I may sound a little cynical about this
holiday. I guess it is because our
single friends feel so unloved and so alone. I never have been alone on
Valentine’s Day, but I’m literally protective and perturbed for the people who
are. These are amazing, awesome people who feel reminded on this one day
that their dreams of romance and true love are not being realized.
The origin of the holiday is supposed to be based
on the life of a Catholic Saint, named Valentine. What we know about him (from the traditional descriptions
written in the 1200’s) Valentine was an evangelical man, preaching Jesus Christ
and calling everyone to know Him...and His love. Apparently the Roman emperor
at the time (Claudius, in the year 280) opposed proselytizing in any religion, including
those his subjects practiced freely.
He called Valentine to his presence and asked for
his repentance. Valentine refused,
saying that not preaching the Gospel was to deny Christ.
The act of wilful defiance to an emperor was
punishable by death, and Claudius ordered it for Valentine the following day –
February 14. Before his head was cut off, the Roman guard (Valentine’s jailer) asked Valentine
to pray for his young daughter who was blind and going deaf. Apparently,
Valentine asked for the girl to be brought to him and prayed that God would restore
her sight and hearing.
She was miraculously healed (this is why the
Catholic church made him a “saint”). So,
St. Valentine’s Day is the anniversary of his execution, not his
birthday.
It was Chaucer (who wrote Canterbury Tales)
that proclaimed St. Valentine’s Day to be “A Day for
Lovers” in his poem “Parlement of Foules” (Assembly
of Birds).
I’m not falling for
that. Mario and I celebrate the holiday by
boycotting it. We make a choice to
celebrate the day after, when chocolates were 50% off and the cards that
didn’t sell were priced to go. We
would try to out-do each other with the cheesiest cards we could find. I once gave him a “left-over” card that
showed the silhouette of an African-American woman (complete with afro and
formal gown) and said “With deepest love from your brown sugar.”
This makes me smile... we beat the holiday pressure
at its own game.
Want to know the greatest tale of romance? Jesus Christ was born and died and rose again
to make it possible for someone as messed up as me to receive my Heavenly
Father’s love. That’s true love.
Happy Valentine’s Day.