(Samantha Heathcote -- The Beacon)
By The Beacon Editorial Staff
You have probably heard of the Christian St. Valentine. He was a priest who married young couples in the Roman Empire. Some of these couples were forbidden to marry by Emperor Claudius II., because he thought unmarried young men made better soldiers.
But even before Christianity took on Valentine's Day as its own, the Romans celebrated a fertility festival in February honoring the Roman god of agriculture as well as the founders of Rome: the twins Remus and Romulus.
On this day – in some ancient and quicker version of The Bachelor – the young women in the city would place their names in an urn, and the bachelors would pick names out of the urn and be paired with that person for the year. These pairings often ended in marriage.
It's clear that for centuries, even before St. Valentine was around, people planned an annual celebration centered around love.
Valentines Day is a holiday, not just a corporate creation, let's do it right, let's not make it a holiday that induces us to buy tokens of affection for our loved ones out of society-driven guilt and romantic idealism promulgated by romantic comedies.
Although every department store you will enter after New Year's is stocked to the ceiling with products claiming to fulfill your sweetheart's wishes, the better route is to think outside the heart-shaped box.
Generic cards, chocolate, flowers and other unoriginal trinkets don't say ‘I care about you.' They say ‘I got you this ‘cause it's Valentine's Day and that's what I'm supposed to do.'
If you think your sweetheart will enjoy something traditional, at least make it your own. Put a special twist on your present, expressing the quality of your unique relationship.
For those who are not in a relationship, Valentine's Day can be the cruel reminder of singledom.
If you're sulking about your lack of valentine, remember, misery loves company. Get some of your other sulking friends together and go have your own celebration of the liberty lacking a valentine gives you!
And if that celebration doesn't get you out of your funk, take advantage of the many benefits offered by Feb. 15, otherwise known as Cheap Chocolate Day.
