East London News A Force for the community…
THE CHRISTIAN Church has assigned most, if not all, dates in the calendar to the celebration of one saint or another. Most of them don’t impinge on our national consciousness – but St Valentine’s Day, on 14th February, has become very well known.
No one is quite sure which Valentine is celebrated on 14th February, or what association he had with romantic love. He was named as a saint around 500AD and was linked with affairs of the heart about a thousand years later.
In the early 18th century, as commerce got its act together in a serious way, it became an occasion for lovers to exchange messages and gifts – and, later on, cards. Now in the 21st century Valentine’s Day is a day for spending money and feeling left out if you have no Significant Other. Welcome to international capitalism: money-grabbing and hard hearted.
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Thought for today
The Thames Today
