Valentine's Day is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. 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 holiday is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the fourteenth century.
The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were expounded briefly in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.
Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.
Nowadays, Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries.
In ancient Iranian culture, the Sepandarmazgan, or Esfandgan, is the celebration day of love and earth. Sepandarmaz is another name for mainyu (earth) meaning Holy, Humble and Passionate. Sepandarmaz is also Earth Guardian Angel. It is the symbol of humbleness. It means modest toward the entire creation.
In the feast of Sepandarmazgan, the Earth was worshiped and women venerated. On this day, women and girls sat on the throne and men and boys had to obey them and bring them presents and gifts. In this way, men were reminded to acclaim and respect women.
It has nothing in common with the Saint Valentin celebration, except for a superficial similarity in giving affection and gifts to loved ones, and its origins and motivations are completely unrelated. The original date for this ceremony was 5th of Esfand, which corresponds to 24th February in the Gregorian calendar. Sepandarmazgan is celebrated the 29th of Bahman in Iranian calendar. Modern folklore dates the celebration to ancient times and Zoroastrian tradition.
(Quoted from the Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment