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A Brief History Of Valentine’s Day

The celebration of Valentine’s Day owes its existence to an ancient pagan ritual. With the spread of Christianity, priests had numerous heathen practices to deal with among their constituents. One of these ancient rituals was the Feast of Lubercus which they changed to St. Valentine’s Day changing the pagan practice of drawing girl’s names with drawing Saints’ names. Young people would draw the names from an urn or box and then were expected to emulate that Saint’s life during the following year. Unfortunately, by the 14th century they had reverted back to drawing girl’s names, in the 16th century they tried again to have saintly valentines but it failed.

According to lore there were seven men named Valentine honored with feasts on February 14th. One of these men named Valentine was a priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Valentine was honored by the young and old, rich and poor, with people of all walks of life attending his services. At this time Emperor Claudius was heavily recruiting men to serve as soldiers for his wars without much success. The men preferred not to leave their wives, families and sweethearts to fight in foreign lands. Claudius became angry and declared that no more marriages could be performed and all engagements were cancelled.

According to the story, Valentine thought this practice to be unfair and secretly married several couples. When Claudius found out, he had Valentine put in prison where he died. Friends and patrons of the priest retrieved his body and buried it in a churchyard in Rome.

Another version of the story tells that St. Valentine was jailed for helping Christians. According to this story, while Valentine was in prison he cured a jailer’s daughter of blindness. Claudius became enraged and had Valentine clubbed and beheaded on February 14, 269 A.D.

 Yet another story claims that Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and wrote her letters that were signed “From your Valentine.”

All of the Valentines in time evolved into one. In 496 Pope Gelasius declared the day a holiday in honor of St. Valentine. Through the centuries the Christian holiday became a time to exchange love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. Lovers’ quarrels come under his jurisdiction and, naturally, he is the patron saint of engaged couples and of anyone wishing to marry.

About the Guest Author

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. For a unique love gift go to http://www.bottledlovemessage.com

In every relationship at least one of the partners likes to fanaticize, to excite their imagination.  Who knows, it could be both of you.  Want to know what fuels fantasy?  Reality fuels fantasy, otherwise it is called dreaming.  Fantasy is like hope in a way; it is a desire that sees the possibility of becoming real.  When lips, mouths and senses meet, fuel for a “sexplosive” relationship is created.  Think of it like using different spices in your cooking.  Do you cook up the same old meal daily?  OK, maybe you do, but that’s the point – you don’t have to.  Cook up something that uses the same basic ingredients that changes the dynamics of the meal completely.  Play to the fantasy in life, invite your partner in and savor the experience.  You will both want more.  When do you start?  You start now!  If you’re a planner, plan it – and perform your plan.  If you are impromptu, let your spontaneity out.  What’s the best thing that can happen?  Well, that’s the idea isn’t it?  Find out!  Don’t dream about it, do it.  The first opportunity you have, let it out.  Planned or spun up on the moment, let it go.  This is supposed to be fun stuff, isn’t it?  We all discuss it, complain about it and on occasion want to tell the world how terrific it is.  Go ahead, sexplode with your partner and don’t forget to see what’s available on the spice rack.

For some great ideas for the bedroom, check out what Michael Webb has for you – 100 Sex Games.  Don’t get boring in the bedroom – click the link below and let the fun begin!

Kissing is universal and kisses, or perhaps just a special kiss, have been captured in photos, and painted by artists over the centuries. 

Three that come to mind immediately are Auguste Rodin’s “The Kiss,” Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss,” and Alfred Eistenstadt’s famous photo on V-J Day of the sailor and nurse. 

Auguste Rodin

Here they are and I don’t know about you, but they take my breath away.  I saw the photo of the V-J Day kiss when I was a little girl and it’s been my favorite photo ever since.  I have a large framed copy in my office.  It grabs me very time I look up and view it.

Klimt

Here’s where you get to give your input.  What’s more romantic than a movie kiss?  Well, except for your own up close and personal kiss with your significant other.  But for now, let’s focus on our favorite movie kisses.

We’ve probably all seen a lot of great kisses on screen and some really awful ones.  But we’ll stick with the good stuff for now.  Let me hear back from you – what is your favorite and best movie kiss or kisses ever?

I’ll get the ball rolling by sharing my personal favorites:

Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the    secluded Hawaiian beach in “From Here to Eternity.”  She tells him breathlessly that she’s never been kissed that way before.  Wow.  A guy couldn’t ask for a better response to his kiss.  It’s a classic film – and if you haven’t seen it, rent it and look for the kissing scene – it’s a good one. 

Let us know your favorite movie kisses are by posting on our blog.  Thank you!