With all the buzz about presents and cards the holiday of St. Valentine sometimes look like a big popularity contest.
It is surprising how many people hate it but still can't ignore it. Even if we disapprove the commercial idea behind Valentine's, we can still enjoy in it. Valentine's Day is certainly not only about flowers and chocolate and if we dig a bit deeper in its history, we can find a lot of amusing facts too.
Who was Saint Valentine? How is he connected with love and big red hearts?
*** all used images are public domain ***
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What is your best Valentine's memory?
Mint and yellow are more 'modern' colors, mostly popular because everybody is overloaded with pink. The time will tell how long will their popularity last.
Some online sources associate pink- and red-colored attire to a formal get-together for St. Valentine's Day.
They attribute mint-green and yellow attire to an informal get-together.
Is this an option always around or just recently?
(If a recent trend, is mint-green or yellow invoked traditionally by Feb. 14 celebrants?)
The first subheading, Few facts about Saint Valentine, contains a much-appreciated link to MyCalendarLand.
That aforementioned site gives us 10 dates under Funny Observances and Holidays in February 2023.
Will those holidays and observances be the same on the 2024 calendar or will more be added?
This Valentine wizzley calls to mind your Father's Day, Thanksgiving and wedding-colors wizzlies because of the welcome situational contexts of the latter three.
Might you be writing a wizzley about decorations, meals and props for Feb. 11, 14 and 15? They would be so welcome!
Many thanks for the MyCalendarLand link!
The third subheading, February calendar for kids, to February 2023 Calendar
Welcome to our selection of free calendars for February 2023!, considers as popular images bears and elephants.
All bears make sense to me for children calendars because of us all -- right? ;-D -- going through, and never getting out of, a cuddly teddy bear toy stage.
Might all those equally cuddly elephants be a recent addition?
From childhood onward, I remember seeing bears and then bears and penguins!
Single awareness day must have either an open celebration or some evolving traditions.
Might there be any precedents in terms of colors and types of drinks and foods?
The comestibles that I associate with Valentine's Day are chocolates and heart-shaped candies.
Is there any tradition about alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and about main and side dishes specific to Valentine's Day?
Or would drinks and food not matter as long as they are pink, pink-and-red or red ;-D?
The second subheading, Printable monthly calendar February 2023, informs us that "Although the name of February is accepted worldwide, different nations used different names for this time of the year, all of course connected with real life situations. It was called after mud, rain, cabbage, cakes, icicles, wood cutting, and so on."
Ancient Hawaiians invoked different names for the same lunar month. For example, farmers, fishermen, Kauaians, Mauians and Oahuans respectively named February Welo "to float"), Kaulua "to put two together"), Kaelo ("belonging to wet[-month weather]"), Makalii (Pleiades, "star-]"eyes small") and Ikiiki (airlessness"!
What countries and cultures would such designations as "mud, rain, cabbage, cakes, icicles, wood cutting" be associated with?
The February 2023 Calendar entry on MyCalendarLand advises us that "Although the name of February is accepted worldwide, different nations used different names for this time of the year, all of course connected with real life situations. It was called after mud, rain, cabbage, cakes, icicles, wood cutting, and so on."
The 8 main islands of the Hawaiian archipelago anciently did not necessarily have the same name for their lunar months. Twenty-first-century dictionaries enter Feberuari and Pepeluali as Hawaiianized February.
But one traditional name is Kalua (from Hawaiian ka lua, "to appropriate [a/the] pit"). Another traditional name is Kaulua (from kau lua, "to put two [together]").
Kalua perhaps makes us think of luau (from Hawaiian lú'au, "[soft porous] stone [for ground oven-cooking food]") -- that may make delicious feasts for celebrating Valentine's Day! -- even as Kaulua perhaps makes us think of couples, don't you think?
The next-last subheading, Did you know?, identifies Single awareness day as Feb. 15. The MyCalendarLand link just above the second subheading, Stories about Saint Valentine, includes Funny Observances and Holidays in February 2023 near the end of its February 2023 calendar section.
Those funny observances and holidays lodge for Feb. 11 Satisfied staying single day.
Might it be known why those days in particular, 3 days before and 1 day after, were chosen? Might it not be fun to have -- and easier to remember ;-D -- Satisfied staying single Feb. 13?