Be Mine, St. Valentine

The strange evolution of Valentine's Day - By Maya Poulton, Feb 14, 07

The history of Valentine's Day is very mysterious. The one thing that we can be sure of is that February 14th has long been a holiday for lovers, and has consequently long been lamented by singles. Like any other modern holiday, Valentine's requires the opening of wallets and mouths in the pursuit of gloriously gluttinous wining and dining.

The earliest inklings of this holiday may be attributed to the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis, which occurred on Feb. 15th. Lupercalis was an annual fertility fest where naked singles would be coupled up through a lottery system, and then the young women would be subjected to being slapped by sacrificial goat skins in an effort to increase their child bearing powers. Then everyone would eat, drink, and have sex- which is really the only parallel one can make with modern Valentine's Day.

The modern name of this holiday came from the Christians who drove those hedonistic pagans out. There were not one but three St. Valentines, and although one cannot find much information on their accomplishments, they were all martyrs who were of Roman descent, and were executed on Feb. 14th. So martyrdom is consequentially intertwined with this day, which will seem ironic for those who despise this day for lovers. Other interesting roots of the Valentine's Day red rose are best described by Chaucer, that crusty British author of The Canterbury Tales:
"For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate."

So people apparently witnessed the coupling of pigeons in London, slapped each other with bloody goat or died in some grotesque fashion for their beliefs in Rome, and this was somehow all translated at a much later date by Hallmark, de Beers, and Godiva into a fantastic feat of modern marketing. In the U.S. alone, total consumer spending for Feb.14th 2007 is expected to be 13.7 billion.

Of course, in the old days people didn't buy each other mass produced cards, boxes of chocolate, a dozen red roses, lacy g-strings, and those really cute little sugar hearts with stuff written on them. No, back then people would scribe each other love letters and choose a Valentine, i.e. that person that you have had a large crush on but need an excuse to approach. (Arguably this practice still takes place in kindergartens across the world, but those of us who have graduated beyond eating the red crayons tend to just buy things instead). There's evidence that the giving of love letters and cards was occurring in both England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries, although the precise origin of the phrase "be my valentine" is unknown. Perhaps the true answer may be found on wikipedia.com, but sadly the PRC has censored that informative website.

So what to do to celebrate (or drunkenly lament) Valentine's day this week? This being Shanghai, there are many answers! For foods that make you horny and tented tables that boast musky hookahts and their own slaves, try Finestre and Attica. For masked debauchery, try 4 Live's Masquerade ball. For an anti-valentines day celebration for the bitter or cynical, try Cotton's. No cliche moet rose there, but instead flowing shots of tequila to warm your cold heart. Finally, for the bling-bling couples, the Westin is offering a martini with the diamond of your choice placed in it. Very tasty.

There are in fact too many dinner options and parties to list, as is appropriate for such a day that blends the commercial with the obligatory. See this page for more details on the fabulous set course menus and champagne deals that the city has to offer: http://www.smartshanghai.com/valentines2007

Pictures of the Pre-Valentin's Party at Muse last weekend here

And of course remember to make love, not war.