335- Valentine's day, or why I don't celebrate it

Image comes from Gratisography, found on pexels, a website for copyright free images. 
I added the text. 

Today's a day many people celebrate love through the cultural celebration called Valentine's day. I don't ever celebrate it, and I wanted to say both why, and what I used to do when alone, or what we do as a couple, with my wife.


There are several reasons why I don't celebrate and never really have, though I'd offered my wife some flowers on several occasions that happened to be that cultural celebration day.
On this day, we don't follow the trend of sappy romantic comedies. Part of that reason is that those movies tend to have too much gross food as if eating animals together is supposed to be romantic, and as vegans, we disagree with this statement. The second part of that same reason is that I'm hyper sensitive and cannot look at those meals. 
Instead of sappiness, we usually end up either watching whatever show we are on, or some thriller (Hitchock most of the time, but not always). 

The second big reason why I don't celebrate it is the fact it's such a hyped, commercial day, with over-the-top reminders everywhere, much like xmas, disregarding single people and those who don't wish to celebrate or are unable. It's a societal majority that doesn't leave space for others to express their feelings and love on their own terms. 
The sub part of this reason is also that it's one day made to remind everyone of love, but what about the rest of the year ?! So many people get caught up in the importance of this day and many couples break-up due to misunderstandings or one person forgetting and whatnot... 
Couples can separate for any reasons any day, of course. But, people can and should have their love expressed any day they wish, and not just because it's a day 'made for it'. 

The third big reason is the background to this cultural reference. First of all, did you know that it comes from Christian religion and that there are THREE separate dates for the same Valentine's day ? Yup, check it out: today is the most commonly known, but it was fixed by the Western Christian Church. More specifically, this 14th of February is celebrated and fixed by the Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.

The other two are both fixed in July, and both by the Eastern Orthodox Church. These days are 6 (Saint Valentine, the Roman presbyter is honored) and 30th is a feast for Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna.

A cultural celebration based on religions irks me. I'm an atheist, and see no logic of associating a possibly invented saint - as you can read on wiki, the one or possibly two that gave the name to this day aren't known beyond their names, and this to me means that the church invented them to supplant pagan mythes and which in turn are related to nature.
(wiki articles : Valentine's day and Saint Valentine)

Now, even if the two saints did exist, their day is celebrate because they DIED on that day, by martyrdom, aka, dying for believing in Jesus, God, the Trinity and all that mythological christian propaganda, despite opposition. Celebrating LOVE because some religious person decided to die for their belief. Really ?! 

Now, let's talk about the patronages of this one or 2 saints (possibly + one bishop). 
They are love, couples & happy marriages, , beekeepers, PLAGUE, against fainting, and EPILEPSY. 
Like, yes, all these are super related. A saint supposed to represent love, who possible died in 14/02/0269 (that's 1749 years ago), of one or several people that may have never existed, since so little is known of them... and who have patronages far widely outside of the field of love... 
Examples are plague, epilepsy and against fainting, which are 3 related topics, and then, you got beekeepers. Because, bees. 

In similar way, the attributes are just as wildly wide:
Birds (why ? because birds are in love? or because love is free like a bird? huh? what? oh yea, specifically, LOVE BIRDS)
Bishop with a crippled or a child with epilepsy at his feet ; a priest giving sight to a blind girl
(the only love shown in both images is compassion of a person towards a sick child).

Bishop REFUSING to adore an idol ; or a bishop being BEHEADEd ; or a priest bearing a sword holding a SUN ( All these= Christian propaganda that really takes the turn towards making sure this is an invented person, to supplant paganism and thus nature).

The priest giving sight is also a church propaganda to show the miracle healing that they use so much to convince people of the benefits of belief and faith in god, jesus etc. 

From all the patronages and attributes associated with one or multiple Valentines ; lack of knowledge and invented dates, all point to the same direction for me: the church inventing stuff to get followers.

Images of birds (love birds), bees, sickness, are all pagan in origine. We associate what we see in nature, to symbolism, that is universal only for a time, and then, one day, we may change our views. Or, someone else may not see that same symbol. Currently, people from other cultures won't feel the same about the same images.

For me, Valentine's day's just another, normal and regular day in the calendar. As a single person, back then, I didn't celebrate it either. If you are single, and the hyper is getting to you, remember that it's only a cultural day like any other, and that you can make what you want, for yourself, even alone. Do and watch what you want, for you. Do self care if you want, or just live your normal life if you don't want to make any different actions today. It's okay. Romance shouldn't be forced on you as an ideal goal, if you aren't ready for it or don't ever wish it. 

 I'm not against others celebrating it if that's what you wanna do, but please, do know why you do so and where it comes from, and maybe give it your own meaning if these origins bother you like they bother me.

I prefer to celebrate our couple on our own personal days, be it noting the one we met online and chatted for the first time ; or the one we met in person, and our wedding. But, every day of the year, I love my wife, even if I'm not always able to say or express it due to my particular life experiences and traumas. But, that's a whole other topic.