Valentine's Day is not a holiday for all lovers
In the last decade, when my children studied at the Kyiv school, instead of hand-drawn school newspapers there were standard “School Newspapers from Kyivstar”. The younger generation (who eventually came out to Euromaidan) received much-needed information from them, for example, about the world's longest kiss and the accompanying physiological details.
As the head teacher explained to me then educational work, democratic values simply oblige them to satisfy the most recent interests of students, especially since the described issue of the newspaper is dedicated to the holiday of St. Valentine. But is the image of a saint consistent with exposing one’s intimate desires to everyone?
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Saint Valentine became famous during the reign of the Roman emperor Aurelian (270-275), a persecutor of Christians. He was the bishop of the city of Interamna in Umbria (of course, “underground”). But also a famous healer. Through the power of prayer, Valentin healed hopeless illnesses and thereby brought patients to faith in Christ. So the son of the city prefect was among the Christians. The pagan father turned all his anger on the saint, executing him by cutting off his head.
This is practically all the “official” information about Valentine that can be gleaned from the Lives of the Saints. The Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the saint on August 12 (new style). And on February 14, St. Valentine was venerated in Umbria as a local saint.
And what does it have to do with lovers?
It seems that in this case we have another example of combining pagan and Christian holidays. Let us at least remember our domestic Christmastide, Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala...
Also in Italy, the holiday of love dates back to the Roman festival in honor of the goddess of marriage Juno, celebrated on February 14. So St. Valentine in the mass consciousness turned into a character who patronizes gender relations. Apparently then folk legends about him appeared.
According to one of them, the Interamni bishop, in violation of the order of the soldier emperor, who forbade his soldiers to marry, secretly married them to his loved ones. But this could not happen in principle - due to the absence of a wedding ceremony in those centuries.
In the XNUMXth century, this holiday crossed the English Channel and surfaced in Foggy Albion in the form of “Valentine's choice”. The young people pulled pieces of parchment with the names of their friends out of a hat and pledged to serve their “chosen one” for the entire next year. Agree - it is far from the laws of love, but, nevertheless, it was this custom that laid the foundation for the celebration of “Valentine’s Day” throughout the world.
Over time, pieces of parchment grew into “Valentines” made of colored paper, signed with colored ink. In the XNUMXth century they were already exchanged instead of gifts. It seems that another legend about Valentine is connected with postcards. According to it, when the saint was awaiting execution in prison, he managed to fall in love with the blind daughter of his future executioner and healed her. Before his execution, he left her a farewell note and signed it: “Your Valentine.” Having received it, the girl regained her sight.
Thanks to the ingenuity of lovers, the design and filling of “Valentines” of the 100000th century. amazed by its diversity. Most often they were written in an acrostic poem, the first letters of each line spelling out the name of the beloved. “Valentines” were cut out with scissors, decorated like lace, painted to resemble a medieval letter, etc. But from the second half of the XNUMXth century. Enterprising Americans put the production of hearts, cupids and kissing birds on the conveyor belt (even then the rise at the holiday was $XNUMX) and the need for independent creativity disappeared.
Everyone goes crazy with love in their own way.
However, such “consumerism” did not cover all nations. For example, in Wales there is still a tradition of carving “love spoons” from wood and giving them to loved ones on February 14th. An indispensable ornament of such spoons are hearts and keys “to them”.
The French give jewelry and write love quatrains on Valentine's Day.
In Japan, the celebration of St. Valentina was “promoted” in the 30s of the 23th century as an advertising ploy for a chocolate company. But on this day they give gifts to men - a sort of February XNUMXrd in Japanese. In addition, on this day, lovers climb onto a specially erected platform and shout out love confessions with all their might.
But the Germans consider Valentine the patron saint of... the mentally ill and decorate psychiatric hospitals on this day, and prayer services are held in their chapels.
Poles in love try to make a pilgrimage to the Poznan Basilica on this day - it is from the place where the relics of St. Valentine are buried.
The February “Valentine’s Day” came to us in its American version – along with McDonald’s, “soap operas” and other delights of the “civilized world”. But this does not mean that our ancestors did not celebrate the holiday of love and fidelity. In Rus', this was considered the Day of Remembrance of the holy spouses Peter and Fevronia, falling on July 8 (June 25, old style).
There is no happier story in the world
Murom Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia lived at the turn of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, and legends about them are summarized in the monument of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia”.
Prince Peter was the second son of Murom Prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He inherited his father's throne in 1203. Several years earlier, Peter fell ill with leprosy, from which not a single doctor was able to cure him. But one of his servants brought a young healer named Fevronia from the Ryazan land, who was able to put the prince on his feet. During this time, the girl managed to conquer Peter with her spiritual purity and wisdom. Without hesitation, the prince took her as his wife.
But Fevronia was a commoner, and the boyars, incited by their wives, demanded that the prince break off this “unsightly” marriage. Peter's loyalty to his love turned out to be stronger than his jealousy of power, and he presented the boyars with a choice: either he leaves Murom, or they leave their demands. The boyars, each of whom secretly dreamed of the throne, chose the first. So the prince and princess left Murom and went on their wanderings. The story describes hardships, trials and temptations, which only strengthened the feelings of the spouses.
After some time, they were overtaken by a messenger from the city, who reported that the boyars, in the struggle for power, had killed each other and covered Mur with blood. The people demand that the princely couple regain rule of the Murom land.
After this, they ruled fairly for about twenty years, becoming especially famous for their mercy, and died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228.
According to the will, their bodies were placed in one coffin. The miracles emanating from the tomb made it possible to canonize the faithful prince and princess as saints. Since then, the day of remembrance of the Holy Blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, the Murom miracle workers, is considered a holiday of the patrons of all who decide to get married. And married people on this day ask God for marital harmony.
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