The rush hour started early tonight. Traffic moved slowly along FM-620. Listening to the radio, I reflected on the reason for the early departure. Then I got it. Up and down the country boyfriends, husbands and significant others ones were rushing home to take their beloved chocolates and flowers or go out on a dinner date. It's February 14 - St Valentine's Day. Of course! During the day, deliveries of flowers, usually red or white roses had brightened up otherwise grey offices.
So who was this Valentine guy anyway? And what's with the chocolates and roses?
As so often happens, not much is known about our eponymous hero. According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia (1), he was possibly one of three martyred men named Valentinus who lived in the late third century during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (who died 270). The options are that he was a priest in Rome, or a bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), buried at a spot along the Via Flaminia; or a martyr in the Roman province of Africa. It does not help that various dates are given for their martyrdoms: pick from 269, 270 or 273CE. Nor does it help that the name was a popular one in the later Roman Empire. The connotation of valens, meaning "being strong", had obvious appeal in a robust, male-dominated culture. Several emperors and even a pope bore the name.
The association with February 14 has its own confused history:
"That the creation of the feast for such dimly conceived figures may have been an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia that was still being celebrated in fifth-century Rome, on February 15 is apparently a figment of the English eighteenth-century antiquarian Alban Butler, embellished by Francis Douce, as Jack Oruch conclusively demonstrated in 1981. Many of the current legends that characterise Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love" (2).
Romantic love. Now we're getting to the point. When I was a youngster, Valentine's Day was expressly for lovers. Cards were supposed to be anonymous. It was always part of the fun to try and guess who your card or cards (if you were lucky to get more than one) was sent by. On a recent visit to Target, one of the US' leading multiple retailers, I was astonished to see Valentines cards not just for lovers, but from mums to sons, dads to daughters, grandkids to grannies and grandpas. Even to pet cats. How the world has changed!
This is all good for the card and gift industry. Coming in between Christmas and Easter, Valentine's Day is a convenient 'opportunity' for makers of greetings cards, chocolates and cut flowers to make a buck. One billion greetings cards will be exchanged this February 14, according to Care2, and in order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers first, then children, followed by mothers, wives, sweethearts and Koko the gorilla (3). Koko the gorilla?
The US Census Bureau has assembled some fascinating statistics for 2003 that demonstrate how big an industry the romance business has become (4). We're talking big money:
- $68 million, the wholesale value of domestically produced roses in 2001 (roses generated the highest receipts of any type of cut flower, followed by lilies);
- 122,224, the number of people employed by florists nationwide in the USA;
- 24 lbs., the per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2001; it is believed a large portion is consumed around Valentine's Day. Candy consumption has actually declined the last few years: four years earlier, each American ate more than 27 pounds a year.
This is very far from an act of martyrdom 1,630 years ago of a man whose name, supposedly, was Valentine or a variant thereof. Yet we all like an excuse to be treated as special and that's good for our self-worth. In that regard, Geoffrey Chaucer did us a favour.
But above all, it's good for business.
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