Our trek to V-Day

It is the winter of our discontent… for some.

For those in love, it is a time to offer “baby speak” to your significant other and watch as all those around you get sick stomachs.

To the remaining yet unaffiliated, it is an exciting time to explore dating sites, send anonymous Valentines cards and use the holiday excuse to find the love.

It is a winter holiday that has traditionally added some color to the otherwise dreary landscape here in wild brown and (of late) white scenery.

It puts us into a more amiable mood on the heels of getting no love from a member of the rodent family in Punxsutawney a few days back.

Although nobody can trace the roots back to when this day was first adopted, there is much speculation and some interesting concepts, wives’ tales and general confusion as to if and why we celebrate, whose holiday it is, and for that matter, should we celebrate it.

Some like to go back in time to wild and wacky Rome where, from Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. It was quite a dark and medieval time where goats and a dog were sacrificed, women were beaten in hopes that it would bring fertility and on at least two occasions, martyrs both coincidentally named Valentine were slain in different years during the third century.

Sounds more like the “holiday of 50 shades” than what we know today as Valentine’s Day. In fact, there is a faction of people that will not participate in the holiday because they feel that it’s the celebration of pagan customs.

That’s like saying two plus two equals salmon.

If, in fact we commemorate the death of the martyrs named Valentine, then certainly that more epitomizes the true spirit of their cause to love even unto death. Christ Himself said that there was no greater love than a man who would lay his life down for his friends. If that thought rings true in your Valentine’s Day celebration, then perhaps you can justify the participation.

As you sit back, think about the month of February and Valentine’s Day which falls each year on the 14th. Of course, they were around long before Rome stamped it with its debauchery. Back in the B.C., the month was Adar. The Jewish month of February. In the leap year, it’s followed by an encore month of Adar Beit. (Two Februarys. Twin groundhogs? Eye-yeye-yeye)

Since Hebrew time was recorded the month was always considered and appointed a month of celebration and happiness. Notice that was long before the pagans got ahold of it, so, yeah. No. It wasn’t their holiday, but it was just another day to bogart the joy, and thus, if you refuse to celebrate because of what the pagans did, you are like a kid who gets mad, takes his ball and goes home. No celebration. No joy. No soup for you.

The Jewish Talmud actually says, “when the month of Adar arrives, we increase in joy” to welcome a season of miracles.

I can get behind that idea. As in… it will be a miracle if this cold weather and North Carolina wind ever cease. A month of joy followed every third lunar year by another month of Adar. A double portion of joy every third year.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. No need to beat the women, kill the goats, slaughter the dog. It’s a month of joy. That is most likely what the Valentine boys were doing back in Rome, simply reminding the nation as to the reason for the season of joy and miracles.

Rome informed those Valentines that it was not, in fact, the season to be jolly and with their deaths they set a precedent that there would be no more joy. A blanket sweep of darkness for all.

So, for what it’s worth, the real spirit of Valentine’s Day is defending the joy. It’s honoring the love and giving yourself away. It’s sharing your heart (or heart candies with messages) and putting a smile on someone’s face because you cared enough to defend their joy. You cared enough to spend your time eradicating their “all alone.”

You may not have a “sweetie” this year – so my advice is to find someone who has lost their joy. Someone alone in a hospital bed or a nursing home. A place where you can be the champion of their moments, restoring the purpose of the day. For all others, remember that old Mark Twain quote and let it be the star that guides you this month. “To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.”

If you can “joy” in the journey, then surely the miracle will be seen in the destination.

This year, Valentine’s comes five days after Super Bowl Sunday, so perhaps there will be a lot of Philadelphia fans who need to find their joy after offering their sacrificial eagle, or perhaps Kansas City fans need some encouragement after the refs are made to play nice. Sorry, not sorry.

Perhaps it’s a holiday for those who can’t stand their spouse glued to a television watching football.

It perhaps should be renamed… “Ah… It’s finally over.”

Until the draft in April in Green Bay.