Today is valentine's day. This is the day that has become very commercialized in celebrating romance. But, the entire occasion has dark roots in commoditization, exploitation, fertility, sacrifice, and other gloomy events.
Ancient Roman (Lupercalia Festival):
- Sacrifice and Bloodshed: the Roman festival involved rituals and sacrifice of goats and dogs
- Whipping and Fertility: where priests used goat hides to whip women to increase fertility
- Random Pairings: where men and women would randomly pair up during the festival without consent
Martyrdom of St. Valentine:
- A priest was martyred on valentine's day
- Defiance and Execution: where the priest secretly married couples
Commercialization and Exploitation:
- Victorian Era: when valentine's day really took off with mass-produced cards
- Consumerism: commercialization with pressure to buy gifts and conform to an ideal
- Ethical Concerns: with environmental impact of mass-produced flowers, chocolates, and labor exploitation
- Pressure and Loneliness: for singles this day can amplify feelings of loneliness, though it can also be a time for self-care and self-love of own well-being
- Temptation and Opportunity: can be a time that promotes cheating, sexual assault, and harassment
- Guilt and Deception: increase chances of infidelity and increase in guilt with a greater degree of betrayal
- Risk and Consequences: with adulterous relationships it can also lead to greater risks of people getting caught
- Prostitution: this is also a time where exploitation of women seems to be in great demand
- Mental Distress: for some who have lost their partners through death and divorce it could be a long day of misery and remembrance, a time to wallow in failed relationships and bad memories
- Confusion: this is a day which is very confusing to children as it can be difficult concept for them, it can also be a time where they are at risk of exploitation by the wrong types of people
Dark Side of Cupid:
- Cupid: was a mischievous and cruel figure that used arrows to manipulate emotions of both gods and mortals
