Certainly, for a holiday that isn't even a holiday except for those who call in
sick the next day, Valentine's Day has remarkably become the second-biggest
commercial event in the yearly calendar, with young yuppie puppies spending
hundreds of dollars on each other. Hong Kong, where the World Hotels press
release originated in the bowels of the Grebstad Hicks flackery, is rapidly
becoming one of the world's most expensive venues for the day, and one of the
lustiest. The island ferries are packed with couples headed for love hotels on
the beaches in Silvermine Bay and other strategic locations, where the air
becomes thick enough to touch.
Now, with World Hotels' connivance, Valentine's Day seems to be reverting to
its lustier roots. Before Christians came along and spoiled everybody's fun,
the tradition is believed to have originated as a fertility festival about
2,300 years ago.
According to one website dealing with the matter, "priests known as the Luperci
would meet at the Cave of Lupercal, where a she-wolf was said to have nursed
Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of the city of Rome. Vestal virgins would
offer holy salt cakes and the priests would sacrifice a dog and a goat,
smearing the animal blood onto the foreheads of youth of noble birth. The
nobles would then gently lash women with a goatskin strip, whch was thought to
make them fertile.
During the festiveal of the Luperci, "the names of willing young women were
placed into a box or urn and drawn by lot by every young, unmarried man. The
youths and maidens who were thus matched would be considered partners during
the course of the coming year, which began in March. Although such matches were
generally for sexual gratification, it was not unusual for the pairings to
eventually culminate in marriage.
But along came the Christians. In the 5th Century AD, the church set out to
abolish the pagan celebration and attempted to create its own holiday,
selecting a saint remembered for his devotion to love rather than filthy sex.
It wasn't altogether successful.
"During the 16 Century, Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, made another
attempt was made to institute Saintly Valentines, but it proved equally (if not
more) unsuccessful as the first and was certainly shorter-lived. Eventually,
the Church looked for a suitable Patron Saint of Love to take the place of the
heathen Lupercus. They found an appropriate choice in Saint Valentine."
Thus for about 500 years, Christianity has been more or less successful in
attempting to substitute love for lust on Feb. 14. Now World Hotels is out to
make that a thing of the past. Key findings of the hotel chain's survey are
that lovers:
. Book dinner at a favourite restaurant - 44% of male and 40% of female
participants said this was how they would surprise their loved-one on
Valentines Day
. Book a romantic trip abroad - 52% of male and 48% of female participants
chose this as their preferred way to celebrate Valentines Day if it falls on a
weekend
. Escape for a romantic hide-away trip - even if it falls during the week 30%
of male and 22% of female participants are inspired to spend Valentines Day
somewhere special with their lover.
. Only a lousy 15 percent of males are shameful enough to "buy a small gift as
a token of your love" according to the survey.
For those married a bit longer, it is an ordeal. "Hide under the bed and wait
for Valentine's Day to pass." That is how one unenthusiastic husband responded.
"Christmas bankrupted me and now I am supposed to buy gold chains and throw
away more money," grumbled the unidentified spouse.
Copyright 2007, Asian Sex Gazette
