Because It's Better to Spoil the Fun than Bitch About It

[melayneseahawk]

The St. Valentine's Day massacre is the name given to the shooting of seven people as part of a Prohibition Era conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago, Illinois in the winter of 1929: the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone and the North Side Irish/German gang led by George 'Bugs' Moran.
- from Wikipedia, full article

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city.
- from the Catholic Encyclopedia, full article

n Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of erotic love. He is equated with the Greek God Eros and one of his Latin names is Eros. He is also called Amor, Latin for love.
- from Wikipedia, full article

St. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The history of Valentine's day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day, in honor of Saint Valentine. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of romantic love was formulated.
- from Wikipedia, full article

The History of Valentine's Day, according to the History Channel

Comments

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I quote in its entirety the Annual St. Cyril's Day Rant, by bursar42:

It's the feastday of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, and that means it's time for my annual rant about Valentine and spiffy saints.

What did Valentine do (Well, this particular one, there're quite a few.)? He
got himself killed by the Romans. Not very hard to do.
What did Cyril and Methodius do? They brought literacy in the vernacular
to Eastern Europe, preserved Slavic independence from some rather
rascallious Germans, and they added a very nice argument for services
and texts in the vernacular (not just Greek or Latin!) in the 800s well
before Vatican II made it universal (for R.Catholics, at any rate). For
further information about Cyril and Methodius, see http://saints.catholic.org/saints/cyril.html.
Huzzah for vernacular literacy!

Spiffy saints: those that do fun things or that actually have a nice effect
on the world. Examples: Thomas Aquinas, Albertius Magnus,
Brigid of Kildare, Bede the Venerable, Cyril.

Not-so-spiffy saints: those that just get themselves killed and do nothing
really special except that. Example: Valentine.

Besides, Valentine's Day is rather dumb. (Yes, you euphemism-spotters, I
meant that.) If you think about some of the customs that Valentine's Day
supplanted (Let's just say that there was _lots_ of smartness going on.), it
is.

This was not a very effective rant.

"A Happy St. Cyril's Day To You," says
Chipmunk,
who does not like the corruption of holidays, particularly
Small-Children-Dress-Up-And-Silly-String-People-While
-Begging-For-Candy Day and Affectionate-Card-And-Petty-Gift-Giving Day.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Nice! Have seen that, though, I think.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

That very rant...?

...

HOW DID YOU ACCESS SECRET ALCOVIAN DOCUMENTS?!? WHO GAVE YOU THE ACCESS CODES?!?

WHERE IS THE ZAMPOLIT?

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Probably not that exact rant, but another on the same topic.

And I think it was your fault. :)

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

I didn't give out any access codes...