Cinnamon hearts and high hopes

Every Feb. 14, couples around the world are pressured – okay, encouraged – to express their love and adoration for their spouse or significant other by exchanging Valentine’s Day gifts and cards.

It’s a day that is met with some cynicism by those who have either been burned by love, find themselves alone on Valentine’s Day, or are simply opposed to the concept of commercializing romance. Personally, despite the pressure to wine, dine and spend, I like the idea of having a day where you make a concentrated effort to show how much you care.

We generally go about our days taking the ones we love hideously for granted, so what’s wrong with an “I love you” scrawled inside a bright red card? Or a big, heart-shaped box of chocolates, even though you don’t know what the heck to do with the box once the chocolates are all gone.

It’s cheesy and regarded as outdated by some, but if we must celebrate something, why not celebrate love?

As far as the origin of the day goes, there are several stories to choose from. One of the most popular legends has to do with a priest who served in the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men make better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing how unfair this was, defied the emperor and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.

When Claudius discovered this, Valentine was ordered to be executed. Some believe Valentine’s Day commemorates the anniversary of his death. I know. Not very romantic. A big chunk of history is far from it.

Sometime in the Middle Ages, someone realized that the day coincided with the beginning of the birds’ mating season (unless you live in the Canadian prairies), which added to the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Today, over 150 million Valentine’s Day cards are purchased annually, second only to Christmas. It’s interesting to note that 85 percent of them are purchased by women.

My own Valentine’s Day experiences began back in elementary school, when students were encouraged to exchange cards. Aside from the odd crush, you really don’t know much about romance in Grade 3.

Our moms would help us buy the books or boxes of Valentine cut-out cards, each of them with some kind of goofy “Will you be mine?” message. Everyone had to give everyone a card, so that no one felt left out. Even so, I liked to pretend that the cute boy in class gave me one because he wanted to, not because he had to.

The really thoughtful moms would throw a cinnamon heart in their kids’ envelope, to add something special, and so that the card smelled amazing. It was one of those rare times we were actually allowed to eat candy in class. If you’re still a cynic about the whole thing, look at it this way: You can always buy yourself a heart-shaped box of chocolates for half price on Feb. 15, and no one will care if you throw away the pretty box. Just don’t ask me if I’ve ever done this, because I’ll lie and say no.