HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

From Wikipedia:

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

More here.

As much as I want to say that Valentine's Day is nothing but a consumerist ploy to get us to buy shit we don't really need, I must admit that it's been around for centuries, well before the creation of mass retail markets, indeed, well before capitalism itself was invented. So there's definitely something culturally solid here, something that's a part of the great Western tradition that exists outside of the commercial world.

And I'm in a good relationship this year, so, what the hell, happy Valentine's Day.

But really, I think this day has its full force only when you're in elementary school. All the weird decorations, all the various shades of red and pink, the hearts, the cupids, the little mailboxes you construct in order to receive the Valentine's cards all the other kids are ordered to make and give you, the cookies and punch. It's just all so weird and cool. By the time you're a teenager, it gets caught up in the notion of boyfriends and girlfriends and sex, but when you're a kid it's almost other-worldly. I miss that.

Anyway, here's a Rembrandt cupid image:



And here's one of my favorite love songs:



Happy Love Day!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$