The strange and interesting origins of holidays

I hate to be the typical bitter cynical single woman but the mold just fits so well. Although to be fair I am not really feeling any of those because I have a prospect that seems relatively viable. In true scorned woman fashion though, I am trying not to get my hopes up yet.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day (in case you forgot), the day to celebrate love, young people, and happy marriages. (http://www.catholic.org/ says so!) For those of us who are single and sick of looking, we decided to move our girl's night up and hold it on what some call "Single Awareness Day". The great thing about our girl's nights is that they have been getting a little bit larger every month. I was a little disappointed however to discover that I know so many great women that had nothing else to do on Valentine's Day. There were 14 of us this time and we started out the night by comandeering a corner of the Training Table. We figured it was safe because you seat yourself and most couples probably were headed to pricey establishments,...... like Chuckarama. Training Table ended up being pretty busy but most of the foot traffic was what appeared to be grandparents with their grandchildren probably giving mom and dad an opportunity to go out.

I'm sure we've all heard people say that Valentine's Day is a holiday created by the greeting card companies. (My vote's for Hallmark) I have also heard vague tellings of a Catholic saint named Valentine, but I have never been privy to why he deserved a holiday. In an attempt to stave off boredom and avoid other unpleasantness I decided to do some research. It turns out that Februrary 14th is the anniverary of the beheading of poor Valentine. As holidays go this one was chosen rather oddly. If you think about other holidays, Presidents' Day is celebrated around the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (or Civil Rights Day if you will) is celebrated in the birth month of Mr. King. It made me curious as to which category St. Patrick fell in and he as well is celebrated on the day of his death. I find it curious but not unheard of that it is their deaths that we celebrate. Some would say that Easter is the celebration of Christ's death, but I think most people would disagree and say that it is his resurrection that we celebrate not his actual death. One thing to point out here as well is that the aforementioned holidays (Presidents' Day, MLK Day) were not chosen by any ecclesiastic leaders.

I would also like to mention that there are a lot of saints! As I was browsing the list of saints the last one, St. Zoticus, ended up being number 2,042. Wow!