This Friday is Valentine’s Day, a holiday combining pagan festival with the honoring of Catholic martyrs, including a young priest condemned to death for officiating illegal marriages under Claudius II. Lore goes that he befriended his jailer’s daughter and left her with a letter that closed with “From your Valentine” before his beheading. Over time, the day has evolved into a date to celebrate romance in literature, popular culture, and sales on prison-made lingerie.
For those single, coupled, or otherwise: how do you celebrate V.D.? Do you ignore it? Treat yourself to a romantic evening with a cheesecake or pizza and your fiftieth viewing of favorite classic cinematic love stories or porn that’s too filthy to enjoy more than once a year? Work an extra shift? Curse American chocolate companies, florists, and advertisers for concocting another phony occasion to guiltily buy junk? Celebrate it with someone you love, if not someone you’re in a romantic relationship with? Add to the shrine you’re secretly building to the man/woman/otherkin/ape of your dreams, should they ever materialize? Sift through OKC messages and debate whether phallic metaphors in an otherwise well-written message is a dealbreaker?
Did you ever experience the day with a person or circumstance that made it memorable beyond cards, jewelry, and reservations for overpriced dinners?
Share in the comments.
(Regardless of who you’re with this year or how you spend your Friday, I’m wishing you warmth, fulfillment, and good quality discounted candy.)
Comic Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net
