The much awaited day in the month of February, #February14, Valentine day, is around the corner.
What about “#February14?” #February14, ideally is a day set aside to show love and affection to people around us.
Of course, this celebration has been on for centuries around the world with some people appreciating the day ‘genuinely’ while, others have ‘ignorantly abused’ the day.
Perhaps, the level of immorality that accompanies Valentine’s Day celebration in our modern society calls for concern as many involve in: infidelity, sexual Congress, adultery, and cheating on their supposed partners all in the name of Valentine’s Day celebration.
It is against this background that OurWorldGist’s Senior Writer, Sani Michael Omakoji, in his painstaking findings tells us the story of Valentine as it was and it is today.
Let us read his interesting literature on Valentine:
“What is St Valentine’s Day? St Valentine’s Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on #February14 people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, families and friends. Couples send Valentine’s Day cards and flowers and spend special time together to honour their ‘love’ for each other.
The Early History of Valentine’s Day:
Valentine’s Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century.
There are many stories about St Valentine and over time these stories grew into the legend we know today.
At the time of Valentine’s life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do.
Claudius believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying.
St Valentine began to marry these soldiers in ‘secret Christian ceremonies’ and this was “the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love”.
Eventually, Valentine was found out and jailed for his crimes against Claudius.
While imprison, “Valentine cared for his fellow prisoners and also his jailor’s blind daughter”.
Legend has it that Valentine cured the girl’s blindness and that his final act before being executed was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine’.
How did Valentine’s Day develop?
It wasn’t until more than 200 years later that #February14 was proclaimed St Valentine’s Day.
By this time, Rome had become Christian and the Catholic Church was determined to stamp out any remaining paganism.
As mark of tradition, a pagan fertility ritual was usually held in February each year and the Pope abolished this festival and proclaimed #February14 Saint Valentine’s Day, thus establishing this feast day on the Catholic Calendar of Saints.
Finding shows that “the poet Chaucer in the Middle Ages was the first to link St Valentine with romantic love”.
Yes, this was the beginning of the tradition of courtly love, a ritual of expressing love and admiration, usually “in secret”.
However, as the world grows in technology, this custom spreads throughout Europe and stories grew about a High Court of Love where female judges would rule on issues related to love on #February14 each year.
Further investigation uncovers that, Historians believe that these meetings were in fact gatherings where people read “love poetry” and “played games of flirtation”.
The practice of sending love messages developed into people sending special cards expressing their affection.
These cards were beautiful creations handmade by the sender and individually designed to show how much they loved the recipient.
Cards would usually contain sentimental verse, proclaiming the beauty of the receiver and how much they were loved.
Saint Valentine’s Day cards were decorated with pictures of cupid, hearts and flowers and trimmed with lace and ribbon.
These images are still used today to symbolise love and are recognised all over the world.
What is Valentine’s Day in Contemporary Times? & Why Valentine’s Day is celebrated in most countries?
Different cultures have developed their own traditions for this festival.
In some parts of the world, Valentine’s Day is observed as a day for expressing love between family members and friends, rather than that of romantic couples.
Some traditions include leaving lollies and gifts for children and others include acts of appreciation between friends.
Valentine’s Day is most commonly associated with romantic love, with millions of Valentine’s Day cards being exchanged each year.
Gifts of flowers or a single red rose are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together.
Many couples choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day with dinner, a picnic or special home-cooked meal.
Many restaurants offer Valentine’s Day dinner promotions and food is often presented with symbols of love like hearts and flowers.
Another popular Valentine’s Day activity is to indulge in a luxury hotel stay in a beautiful location, allowing a couple to get away from it all and enjoy some quality time together.
Marriage proposals are also popular on Valentine’s Day, and it is often chosen as the perfect day to express their love and commitment.
Some marriage proposals are delivered very creatively, such as after climbing to the top of a mountain, or posting a message on a billboard.
Whatever the method, marriage proposals made on Valentine’s Day are generally believe to be romantic and memorable.
Before we proceed, note, aside the sweet story, “St Valentine” was executed on #February14 in the year 270.
Now, welcome to the most exciting and most revealing aspect of this article which has to do with my ( Sani Michael Omakoji ) practical experience in the last two decades of Valentine Day Celebration in Nigeria.
‘Having toured around the world to bring you general perception of Valentine Day, it is also imperative to emphasis how Valentine Day is celebrated in Nigeria since the author of this piece, Sani Michael Omakoji is a Nigerian from Kogi State.
‘Perhaps, the essence of this write up is not to bother you with the history of Valentine Day celebration but for the purpose of education, it is necessary I draw our attention to it as I did above following the misconception I have witnessed since I came of age’.
Thus, from the foregoing, infidelity, sexual congress, adultery, and cheating were/are never elements of Valentine Day Celebration.
Dishearteningly, many people in Nigeria, see Valentine Day as “a day set aside to commit immorality”.
Some people are of the opinion that “Valentine Day” is ” a sex free day”.
In line with this misconception, many Relationships and, marriages, have suffered setback as some indulge in sex gratification as a compensation for ‘sight love’ on Valentine Day and as fate will have it, some of these people are either caught in the process or authentically reported.
Let me state here explicitly that Valentine Day was/is not a day you open your legs anyhow or a day you play smart to go and have fun aside your partners as is widely noticeable in Nigeria today rather, it is a day you show sincere affection to your Lover, family Members, Prisoners, Orphans, the Downtrodden, those in IDP Camps, Widows & Widowers as well as the less privileged in our Society.
As I write, I remembered an incident in 2011 in Port Harcourt where a friend offered to take me to luxury Casablanca Restaurant and Sports Bar, Ofada GRA, Port Harcourt, adjacent where I stayed on Valentine day but the same fellow wasn’t willing to give his younger brother part of his university fee as he claimed he had no dime to contribute.
This fellow was willing to spend as much as I wanted just to impress me and other friends but he wasn’t willing to assist his own younger brother to pay part of his education fee on the simple reason that he went to Polytechnic and his brother choose to go to university.
Ironically, when I asked this fellow the meaning of Valentine he desired to spend money on us, he couldn’t say anything reasonable but for the simple reason that others were/ are doing it.
You know what? I declined his invitation and encouraged him to help his brother pay his school fee instead …
This is one of a million examples out there: Lately, you see some guys who cannot even afford good underwears borrowing money to impress some lost ladies who have no sense of their own on this day; some borrow car, some borrow cloth, some borrow shoes, some borrow wristwatch and even eyeglass just to look ‘Gucci’ before some ladies who are lost by what they see without finding.
From the history traced above, is that what Valentine represent? Why not find out the purpose of a thing before delving into it? Why destroying your marriage because of one day fake affection? Why destroying your relationship because of someone who has borrowed everything to impress you on this day ?… Think again!
In summary, next time you celebrate Valentine Day, be reminded of this story that Valentine Day is not a day set aside for cheating, sexual Congress, adultery, infidelity or sex compensation to love at sight, don’t be deceived neither be lured, Valentine celebration goes beyond social fantasy”.
The article is to be updated in years to come as many turn a new leave in Nigeria where the Author writes from.
Sani Michael Omakoji
Writes From The City Centre,
Abuja – Nigeria.
First published on 2/2/2014
