Valentine's Day and Love

   Valentine’s Day is a day of love and romance for some, a day of chocolate and cards for others, but for many, it is a day of bitterness. Every year when Valentine’s Day comes around, I hear my friends whine about how they don’t have a Valentine. They go on about how much better the day would be if they had someone with whom to share it. Well to be honest, it is quite lonely and sad for those without a Valentine on that special lovey dovey day. But the singles can do many other things to feel love too.

   Though this holiday makes big bucks for candy and card companies, they did not create the tradition. The holiday began with a priest known as Valentine, his illegal activities, and the price he paid.

   A long, long, time ago, in a place known as Rome, lived an Emperor named Emporer Claudius II, but for the sake of brevity we’ll just call him Claud. Now, Claud wanted to have a big, strong army but unfortunately, the men of Rome didn’t really want to fight in any wars.  Anyway, Claud got this brilliant idea that the men didn’t want to fight because they were married and had kids and whatever Tom Dick and Harry you can put on it. So, Claud decided to ban marriage for young men.

   Here is where St. Valentine enters. A bishop and rebel who believed in love, he continued to marry couples in secret. That just makes it all the more exciting, in my opinion. On the other hand, how much would a secret wedding feel like? It would just be you, Valentine, and your fiancee.

   Needless to say, Valentine got caught. No more secret midnight weddings for him. Claud ordered that Valentine be put to death. During his imprisonment, however, he fell in love with a girl. Yes, there is always a girl. Before his death on February 14, 270 AD, he wrote her a letter and signed it “From your Valentine.” Looks a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

   There is some speculation as to how St. Valentine died. Some say that he was stoned and beheaded, others believe he became heartsick in jail and died. Not that it really matters..maybe it does.

   The above is only one of many versions of St. Valentine’s story. By now it’s probably so mixed-up that we will never really know what happened, but that is how stories normally goes through generations. What is important is that St. Valentine died for love and marriage and all that mushy, cheesy and lovey dovey stuff. Some people would probably die for the same things. But actually, love is about trusting, compromising, dedication, honesty, forgiving and working as a team. Because two is better than one. Not most of those mushy tumblr post you see nowadays on the internet.

Chinese New Year

   Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated by the Chinese race. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year" in the lunar solar calendar.

    The source of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Traditionally, the festival was a time to honour deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours.

    Regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck before Chinese New Year. Windows and doors will be decorated in red and with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "prosperous". Other activities like lighting up firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.