Photo Found on alastar-packer.hubpages.com

In thinking about this post, I have found this topic to be more difficult than I anticipated. Don’t get me wrong, I am as head-over-heels in love with my best friend, soulmate, and sweetheart as I have ever been. But Valentine’s Day?

Call me cynical, but I have long believed that this “holiday” was contrived by retailers to boost business during the dreary days of winter. That said, I realized I really had no idea of the origin of Valentine’s Day. So off to Google I went. I found the usual Wiki entries, but a history.com link to The History of Valentine’s Day called me, promising tidbits of “history of this centuries-old holiday, from ancient roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England”.  It didn’t hurt that history.com promised all the facts about the holiday…no “alternative facts” here. LOL

You can follow the link above to find the various legends, but suffice it to say that although the holiday is named for the Catholic St Valentine, and some legends attest to this theory, other ideas claim that the Christian Church used Valentine’s as an attempt to “Christianize” a pagan fertility festival known as Lupercalia.  Whatever theory floats your boat, I say.

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages, however, that Valentine’s Day became firmly associated with romance and the first written Valentine’s Day greetings are reported to have appeared around 1400. I guess that shoots my original theory.

Anyway, my husband and I have always bought each other cards proclaiming our love on Valentine’s Day, and then celebrated with a nice dinner, or brunch out, somewhere near February 14th. This year, we decided to skip the cards, and spend a little extra on dinner tonight!

This photo from our wedding anniversary last year is all the Valentine I need.

My Love…365 days a year!

This post is part of the Brave, Bold, Blogger Challenge (BBBC) issued by my moto-blog friend Kathy, aka ToadMama, to cover 28 blog prompts in the month of February. And good for undisciplined me, no rules either.

Toadmama’s Challenge

Prompt: What Valentine’s Day means to you