Written by Antonius Rahu***
Every
February 14th candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all
in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we
celebrate this holiday?
The history of Valentine's Day is in many ways a mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance and comes from ancient Roman tradition.
Valentine’s
Day is an annual celebration which falls on the 14th day
of the month. It is usually celebrated by giving flowers, chocolate and cards
those you love.
We do these things in honour of Saint Valentine. Nowadays,
many people don’t really think about this. However, it is said that Valentine
was a priest during the third century Rome.
At this time, there was an Emperor named Claudius II who
claimed that married soldiers lacked strength other than single soldiers who
were more capable of their occupation therefore he outlawed marriage for young
men aspiring to become soldiers so he could have a stronger army.
Supposedly, Valentine decided against this as he thought it
was unfair and chose to marry young couples in secret.
That is one story, there is also a legend that has been told
claiming that Valentine was a man in prison who fell in love with his jailor’s
daughter and before he was killed he sent the first ‘Valentine’ to himself when
he wrote the woman a letter signing it with ‘Your Valentine’ this is why people
are lead to believe why these words are still used on cards in the 21st century.
Valentine's Day is terrible for two kinds of people those who are single
and those who are not
For single people, the day is a disappointing reminder they don't have
that "special someone" in their life. In Indonesia it called (Para
Jomblo hahaha) Not a fun feeling believe
me, I've been there.
But personally I think it's worse for people in a relationship. Single
people can choose to ignore Valentine's Day.
However, if you're in a
relationship, the last thing you want to do is ignore Valentine's Day --
believe me, I've been there, too.
In few day i have been
asking some young people who lives in Denpasar. My question was what do they
think about valentines Day?
And here is theirs
ansewere was:
14 year old female:
‘I think Valentine’s Day is just a pointless holiday
where card companies sell cards to send to people purely to gain more
money however, if you love someone that much you should celebrate it every day
of the year not just one day.
If Valentine’s Day is going to exist it should be
about people who like someone and aren’t confident enough to tell them and of
course, Mcdonalds get a lot of money because it’s where all the single people
go to drown their sorrows.’ (I do apologise for my little sisters embarrassing
love for food.)
17 year old male:
‘I think it’s a good day if you are one of those people who
enjoys all that cute relationship stuff, it means you can spend the day
treating your girlfriend like a princess but when people who are single go on
about it, it turns into a sort of joke, they’ll laugh about being single and
spending it with their cat etc when deep down everyone wants someone to spend
the day with no matter what they say.’
Married man:
A commercial gimmick for card companies to make loads of money,
nobody really buys into it. It’s expensive and everyone goes out so the service
in restaurants and hotels is poor.’
Married woman:
‘It’s alright for a bit of fun when you’re a teenager or in a
new relationship otherwise it’s a commercial opportunity for greed, it’s not
even just cards, everything in shops is Valentine’s this, Valentine’s that.’
Writer: Young Blogger from Manggarai, Flores island East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia
