ValentineDay西方情人节简介,英文版

2024年3月21日发(作者：龚意农)

What is Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is a celebration of romantic love occurring annually on February

gh its origin is associated by legend with a Catholic saint named Valentine,

the fact is Valentine's Day is not a religious holiday and never really has been.

Valentine's Day has historical roots mainly in Greco-Roman pagan fertility festivals

and the medieval notion that birds pair off to mate on February history of

exchanging cards and other tokens of love on February 14 began to develop in England

and France in the 14th and 15th centuries and became especially popular in the United

States in the 19th and 20th the last decade or so, Valentine's Day

obrvance has even spread to the Far East, India, and the Middle East.

What is the History of Valentine's Day?

The origin of associating the middle of February with love and fertility dates to

ancient times. In ancient Athens, the period between mid-January and mid-February

was the month of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and

ancient Rome, February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus (or

Faunus), the god of fertility. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of

Lupercus would sacrifice goats and a dog to the god, and after drinking wine, they

would run through the streets of Rome striking anyone they met with pieces of the

goat skin. Young women would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, believing that

being touched by the goat skin would render them fertile. Young men would also draw

names from an urn, choosing their "blind date" for the coming year. In 494 AD the

Christian church under Pope Gelasius I appropriated the some aspects of the rite as

the Feast of the Christianity, at least three different saints named

Valentine or Valentinus, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early lives of the

saints under the date of February 14. Two of the Valentines lived in Italy in the third

century: one as a priest at Rome, the other as bishop of Terni. They are both said to

have been martyred in Rome and buried on the Flaminian Way. A third St. Valentine

was martyred in North Africa and very little el is known of l legends

have developed around one or more of the Valentines, two of which are especially

popular. According to one account, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for all

young menbecau he believed unmarried men made better soldiers. Valentine defied

Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young couples and was put to death

by the emperor for it. A related legend has Valentine writing letters from prison to

his beloved, signing them "From your Valentine."However, the connection between St.

Valentine and romantic love is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by

historians as purely a matter of legend. The feast of St. Valentine was first declared

to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I around 498. It is said the pope created the

day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia, but this is not attested in any sources

from that first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic

lovewas in the 14th century in England and France, where it was believed that

February 14 was the day on which birds paired off to mate. Thus we read in Geoffrey

Chaucer's (c. 1343-1400)

Parliament of Fowls, believed to be the first Valentine's

Day poem:

For this was on saint Valentine's day,

When every fowl comes there to choo his mate.

It became common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on Valentine's Day

and to call each other their "Valentines." The first Valentine card was nt by

Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife in 1415 when he was a prisoner in the Tower of

London. Valentine's Daylove notes were often given anonymously. It is probable that

many of the legends about St. Valentine developed during this period (e above). By

the 1700s, vers like "Ros are red, violets are blue" became popular. By the 1850s,

romantics in France began embellishing their valentine cards with gilt paper, ribbons

and lace.

Girls making Valentine's Day cards.

Valentine's Day was probably imported into North America in the 19th century with

ttlers from Britain. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of

embosd paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther A.

Howland (1828 - 1904) of Worcester, Massachutts. Her father operated a large

book and stationery store, and she took her inspiration from an English valentine she

had the 19th century, relics of St. Valentine were donated by Pope

Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, which has

become a popular place of pilgrimage on February in 1969, as part of a larger

effort to pare down the number of saint days of legendary origin, the Church

removed St. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar.

Valentine's Day Customs and Traditions

Photo: Janine Healy.

The primary custom associated with St. Valentine's Day is the mutual exchange of

love notes called valentines. Common symbols on valentines are hearts, the colors red

and pink, and the figure of the winged ng in the 19th century, the

practice of hand writing notes began to give way to the exchange of mass-produced

greeting cards. The cards are no longer given just to lovers, but also to friends,

family, classmates and coworkers. Valentine cards are often accompanied bytiny

candy hearts with affectionate messages printed on Greeting Card

Association estimates that approximately one billion valentine cards are nt

worldwide each year, making Valentine's Day the cond largest card-nding holiday

of the year, behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purcha

approximately 85 percent of all the last 50 years or so, especially in the

United States, the practice of exchanging cards has been extended to include the

giving of gifts, usually from a man to his girlfriend or wife. The most popular

Valentine's Day gifts areros and chocolate. Starting in the 1980s, the diamond

industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for the giving of fine

jewelry. Many couples also schedule a romantic dinner date on Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day in China and Japan

Thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, Valentine's Day has emerged in Japan as

a day on which women give chocolates to men they has become for many

women – especially tho who work in offices – an obligation, and they give chocolates

to all their male co-workers (especially the boss), sometimes at significant personal

expen. This chocolate is known as

giri-choco, which translates as "chocolate of

obligation."

Gifts for White Day. Photo:amanda.

By a further marketing effort, a reciprocal day called White Day has emerged in

Japan. On this day (March 14), men are suppod to return the favor by giving

something to tho who gave themchocolates on Valentine's Day. Many men, however,

give only to their girlfriends. The gift should be white (hence the name) and is often

ine's Day is also celebrated in China, as is the relatedDaughter's

Festival. It is held on the 7th month and 7th day of the lunar calendar and celebrates

a love story between the venth daughter of the Emperor of Heaven and an

orphaned cowherd, who were nt to parate stars and only allowed to e each

other on this one day each year. The next Daughter's Festival will be on August 11,

2005.

Valentine's Day Controversy in India and the Middle East

Valentine's Day only arrived in India a few years ago, but it has quickly gained

popularity among young urban people along with a great deal of controversy among

conrvative Hindus. Traditional Hindu culture discourages public displays of

affection between the xes, including hand-holding, which Valentine's Day

encourages, and Valentine's Day is also rented by some as a Christian and western

2004, militant Hindu nationalists threatened to beat the faces and shave

the heads of tho who participated in Valentine's Day customs. "We will not allow

westernization of Indian culture as St. Valentine was a Christian and celebrating

Valentine's Day would be a violation of Indian culture," said Ved Prakash Sachchan, of

the militant Hindu organization Bajrang Dal, in Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, a leader of

the radical Hindu group Shiv Sena has condemned the holiday as "nothing but a

Western onslaught on India's culture to attract youth for commercial purpos."

Members of the group have stolen Valentine's Day greeting cards from a store and

ceremonially burned r Valentine's Day backlash has occurred in many

Muslim countries. In Pakistan in 2004, the Jamaat-e-Islami party, an Islamist

organization, called for a ban on Valentine's Day. One of its leaders dismisd it as "a

shameful day" when Westerners "are just fulfilling and satisfying their x thirst."

Also in 2004, the government of Saudi Arabia issued an edict declaring that "there

are only two holidays in Islam - Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha - and any other holidays ...

are inventions which Muslims are banned from." Police cloly monitored stores lling

ros and some women were arrested for wearing e this official opposition

from authorities, many people in Middle Eastern countries em to be enjoying the

new holiday. One shopper, buying a red heart-and-ro card for her son-in-law, is

reported as having dismisd the backlash as "only rigidity and cultural backwardness.

Through the crackdown, they only buy people's greater hatred and enmity."