14th February – Each year this day is celebrated
to express the feeling of love. It is also called Saint Valentine’s
Day which marks the death anniversary of one of the Christian legends, Saint
Valentine.
In fact, the day has become a day made for lovers.
However, Valentine’s Day has a much larger appeal. It is a day to express
love and that love can be for anyone and not especially a lover.
The history of Valentine’s Day goes like this.
Saint Valentine was a total of 14 saints who laid out their life for Ancient
Rome. However, some people believe that the Valentine’s Day is a tribute to
only one of these fourteen saints. In Christian culture, a big feast is
organized on Valentine’s Day to commemorate the day of the burial of Saint
Valentine and to celebrate their love for their land and their
martyrdom. Thus, the very reason why Valentine’s Day is celebrated has
nothing to do with the love between two lovers.
However, owing to popular culture, Valentine’s Day
has come to become a day when a man is supposed to express his feelings for a
woman and a woman is supposed to do the same.
In India, it is also opposed by certain section in
the society as it is not a part of our culture and our youths are being alluded
to westernization.
It is not understood as to why we are attached to
this particular day which has now been extended to full week’s celebrations as
Rose Day, Propose Day, Chocolate Day, Teddy Day, Promise Day, Kiss Day, Hug and
Valentines’ Day.
These days all the creations of youngsters, who
are all after establishing the physical relations with the opposite
sex. But the real meaning of love is lost somewhere in the V-Day
cards and presenting of a rose only. Sincerely in friendly relations have also
lost with the passage of time. Friends are the real people who keep their faith
in each other, understand the problem of each other which even parents and
partners do not understand. It is better to do something special for your
friends on this day which they like and appreciate and also make them feel
good.
In India, the day got prominence from the year
1992 only. It was the increasing effect of multi-national companies that mint a
large profit in western countries on this day. It is the second largest
festival celebrated after Christmas in the West. However, Valentine Day is
gaining popularity among young lovers in the country also but it has been
ardently opposed by various Hindu and Islamic traditionalists. They consider it
as a threat to the values and cultures of their society. Some intellectuals
also perceive it as the slavery mentality of the masses for western influence.
According to them it only highlights the economic disparity in the society and
creates a grudge among the urban and rural class of the society.
Frankly speaking, it is not the V-Day, every day
is made to spread love to your friends, parents, relatives, teachers and so on
depending upon your relations with anyone. We should not concentrate on this
particular day rather do something every day to make everyone feel
happy. We can go to the old age home, blind home, orphan home to do
something for them who also do have anybody left in the world to call their
own.
If at we link this particular V-Day with the
history of Saint Valentine, it is all about showing and expressing your
love and doing things that would make someone feel that they are loved.
Let us not stick to this particular day rather
spread the love on every day for everyone to have internal satisfaction on both
ends.
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