Yes it’s that time of year again - every marketing man, card, jewellery and lingerie shop, restaurant and florists dream.
I always thought that back home in the UK that it was a joke that no sooner had we got over the Christmas festivities that Easter eggs were appearing but this year in Sing you have Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day almost back to back.
Every year in many countries across the world, people rush around like mad, spending money on crap to profess their feelings to their loved one, booking restaurants and being ripped off with exorbitant Valentine's Day menus, sitting next to couples who have nothing to say to each other. Ooooh how romantic!
And in Singapore, it’s a truly grand affair with a week long frenzy of performances, fashion shows, competitions to find the perfect couple and love-themed decorations just like these...
But as couples fall over themselves to express their love through hearts, chocolates and flowers, I think some people along the way have forgotten - or may not realise - that Valentine’s Day and all its celebrations and traditions are unfortunately based on fallacy.
Yes sorry to be a stick in the mud but...
1. There were at least three St Valentine's and none of them are known to have done anything particularly romantic in nature. What we celebrate today goes back to Roman times when Christian martyrs Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were honoured. So the day was not about love but honouring martyrs.
2. It is believed by scholars that Valentine’s Day became a celebration of love rather than martyrdom because of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of fertility celebrated on February 13-15.
3. You don't have to give diamonds on Valentine's Day. If you really want to honour the day as per tradition as we know it, forget the diamonds. The tradition of giving paper valentines has been around for 200 year. If you give diamonds (or actually anything else for that matter), you have yet once again fallen for the marketing campaigns dreamt up by the marketing moguls of the 80s.
So if you're worried that you either do not have a Valentine, or that the arrangements you have made for Valentine's Day are not good enough - you can take solace in the above!
4 comments:
Not only for Valentine's but Christmas and CNY as well, i think they are too commercialized. I do like seeing more being done to lift the mood during these holiday seasons. 1 disadvantage in Singapore is that the weather is too hot for people to wanna feel romantic or even be enthusiastic about it. Often, when i get out of the house, the way i dress depends on how hot the weather will be.
Are you serious? Too hot to be romantic?! Back home we used to complain it was too cold/rainy to be romantic! It's not very romantic when you are getting soaked in freezing cold rain. ;) When it's hot you can just roll out a blanket in a park under a tree in the evening with a picnic and job done! :)
Because somehow i feel (i'm sure others too) less huggable and less like hugging when it's hot and i perspire easily so you can imagine! On the contrary, i think sharing an umbrella or being soaked together in the cold rain is kinda cosy :P
I think people make too much of being under a tree. I tried being under the tree myself and all i get are ants and flies. Fortunate not to have any beehives.
Yeah I suppose sweating like a crazy person is probably not very attractive or romantic. I have to admit I actually did sit under a tree here and come under siege by some ants but that still won't put me off! Have you ever been soaked in the cold rain? I have many a time and the novelty wears off pretty damn quick! :)
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