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The
tradition of celebrating February 14 as
Valentine's Day, when lovers express their feelings for each other by mostly
sending cards or love notes, but also by giving candy or flowers is growing
steadily around the world, and even on a local level it gains in popularity
every year.
According to a recent study,
approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making
the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas.
It is estimated that 84 percent of all Valentines are sent by women.
In our area,
Daiana Stavrianos of Daiana’s Patisserie, Karteros, said she always makes
extra special chocolates in decorative boxes for Valentine’s Day.
“The holiday is
slowly becoming more popular in Crete, plus more people are buying locally
in our township rather than going into
Iraklion, so I must be prepared,” she said.
Katerina
Thermitzaki of Ioli Florists, Kokkini Hani, said Valentine’s Day is getting
busier each year.
“Regular flower
bouquets, especially with red roses, have always been popular, but now
people are also into cute little gifts and special arrangements,” she said.
“Each year, there are always new ideas for both men and women. And, for some
reason, the ladies buy in the mornings and the men at night.”
The holiday is named after two men,
Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, both early Christian martyrs, and
it became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the
tradition of courtly love flourished.
Actually, the first recorded
association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in1382 when poet
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd
comyth there to chese [choose]
his make [mate].
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However, the earliest surviving
valentine is a fifteenth-century love note written by Charles, Duke of
Orleans, to his "valentined" wife, and the day is also mentioned ruefully by
Ophelia in Hamlet (1600-01):
"Tomorrow
is Saint Valentine's Day."
While the idea of Valentine’s Day is
now celebrated worldwide, some traditions vary.
In the UK, there are regional traditions.
For example, in Norfolk
a mystical character called 'Jack' Valentine knocks on the rear door of
houses leaving sweets and presents.
In Wales many people celebrate
Dydd Santes Dwynwen (St. Dwynwen's
Day), the patron saint of Welsh lovers. In France, Valentine's Day is known
simply as "Saint Valentin.”
In
Denmark
and Norway,
the day is known as Valentinsdag.
It is not celebrated to a large extent, but more and more people are taking
the time to send a card to a secret love.
In Sweden it is called
Alla hjärtans dag ("All Hearts'
Day"), while the Finns call it Ystävänpäivä, which translates into "Friend's
Day."
Turkey’s
Valentine's Day is called Sevgililer
Günü which translates into "Sweet Hearts Day,"
and in Iran
Sepandarmazgan is a day for love.
The holiday has
emerged in Japan and Korea as well . . . as a day on
which women, mostly, give candy, chocolate or flowers, and in Chinese
culture there is a counterpart to Valentine's Day called "The Night of
Sevens.”
While observances may differ, Valentine’s Day has made one thing perfectly
clear: the language of love is
universal.
Florist Katerina Thermitzaki prepares Valentine roses
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