Valentines

Valentine’s Day occurs every February 14. Across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers, and often expensive gifts, are exchanged between loved ones, friends, co-workers and all in the name of a tradition that carries the name of “St. Valentine”. Little is known about the mysterious saint (*1)

Where did Valentine’s Day originate from? We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial—which probably occurred around A.D. 270—others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides of the sacrificed animals, because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Lupercalia was eventually outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”—at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules,” writing, ““For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”(*2)

From the Heart

The calendar makes us note that February the 14^th is a time to love, unite and create positive lasting connections. As we look around our beautiful planet, it appears that humanity seems to be moving into the opposite direction. World news of dis-ease, famine, environmental catastrophes, and more recently the devastating earthquake impacting Turkey and Syria suggests that indeed, human suffering seems to be on the rising. We all feel it. And quickly enters the thought as a reminder that the laws of physics may apply even to this domain. It is to support the idea of balancing and equilibrium. According to Newtonian principles, a collision is an interaction between two objects that have made contact (usually) with each other. As in any interaction, a collision results in a force being applied to the two colliding objects. Newton’s laws of motion govern such collisions. Newton’s third law of motion claims that “in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the force on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the second object. Forces always come in pairs – equal and opposite action-reaction force pairs.(*3)

Science unfolds so we can have tools to interpret and understand the world. It is up to us how and when to use those tools. Although many have questioned Newtonian principles, the law supporting collision may apply to our present state of consciousness: The higher the consciousness our world is experiencing, the higher the force of the opposite non-consciousness. So as we reflect on this holiday, I invite all of us to consider that for equilibrium to survive, we may be called to persist in the belief that things will eventually be okay. And I call that: the law of “ stick-to-it-ness” .

Wherever you go, there you are.

From snowy Missoula, Montana (US)

With much hope for humanity’s equilibrium

HAPPY SAINT VALENTINES

CREDITS

*1(https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2

*2 ((https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2

Many thanks for sharing go to

Divine Meditations

@divinemeditations6999

frequency of Love :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaqDZ6dSbfA *3 (https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Concept-Builders/Newtons-Laws