Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has a great one whether they celebrate with a special someone or alone. The jaded among us decry the day as a manufactured holiday designed to pressure people into buying cards, candy and flowers. And it's hard to disagree with those folks. I can't say there would be a huge market for cards which say, "I choo-choo-choose you" with a picture of a train on it without Valentine's Day encouraging school children and adults to hand out small bits of paper to each other. But in actuality, the roots of Valentine's Day long predates the founding of Hallmark in 1910. 

Valentine was a name shared by several Christian martyrs, although the holiday we celebrate today is thought to have its roots as a Christian day of feasting in honor of Saint Valentine of Rome. He was a third-century saint who was martyred and buried on the Via Flaminia, an ancient Roman road, on Feb. 14, 269 AD. Saint Valentine's Day, or The Feast of Saint Valentine, was established on Feb. 14, 496 AD by Pope Gelasius I.

According to Wikipedia, "the first recorded association of Saint Valentine's Day with romantic love is believed to be in the Parliament of Fowl by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382." The earliest mention of Feb. 14 as an annual celebration of love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love in 1400. 

Our modern, American way of celebrating has devolved a bit from a feast. Today, Valentine's Day conjures up images of Kleenex boxes covered with construction paper and hearts, into which cards with horrific puns and pictures of the hottest pop culture intellectual property of the day are shoved during school day celebrations. (If you've read any of my headlines in the Southern Standard, you'll know i appreciate a horrific pun). 

Another sure sign of V-Day is the sight of frazzled people congregating in Walmart at the last minute, picking over the leftover cards, candy, flowers and stuffed animals to show their heartfelt love.

The tradtional gifts didn't work as well for me in my early dating life with my now-wife, Ashley. Her dairy and nuts allergies ruled out most standard Valentine's candy offerings. Allergies also came into play when considering any overly fragrant flowers. That left stuffed animals standing in the big three of Valentine's gift items. But being the Ashley of Ashley's Attic meant she and her parents had an entire store full of plush creatures. So that was no way to impress her.

Luckily, I've learned over the years she is content to forego the traditional Valentine's staples in favor of taking her out to eat without complaining and putting aside money for future Walt Disney World trips. I can live with that.

So, regardless of how you celebrate, I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day. And, (cheap plug alert) take advantage of our Valentine's Week subscription special which ends today at 5 p.m. Come to our office to save $15 off a one-year subscription. We love y'all!

Standard Managing Editor Seth Wright can be reached at editor@southernstandard.com