Valentine's Day Cards - Minus the Love - Bilge

TG The Gnomon Member MD-DC-VA Joined: May 01, 2007 Posts: 1293	TG The Gnomon Posted posted on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 10:51 AM Unless you're referring to the martyred Christian saint persecuted by Roman Emperor Claudius II, we have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the lustful twisting of St. Valentine's Day as a time for choosing mates. Friendship, per se, has never had anything to do with it. By the late 1300s, it has only referred to effort of attracting mates. From the 200s to the 1300s it was Roman. From the 1300s to the present it has been romantic. Even so, I still give my daughter a Valentine every year. The SVD massacre was more of a Roman greeting; not at all romantic.

Unless you're referring to the martyred Christian saint persecuted by Roman Emperor Claudius II, we have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the lustful twisting of St. Valentine's Day as a time for choosing mates.

Friendship, per se, has never had anything to do with it. By the late 1300s, it has only referred to effort of attracting mates. From the 200s to the 1300s it was Roman. From the 1300s to the present it has been romantic.

Even so, I still give my daughter a Valentine every year.

The SVD massacre was more of a Roman greeting; not at all romantic.

Post #624110 by The Gnomon on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 10:51 AM