Photos: Local Businesses Enjoy Valentines Day
Bermuda’s businesses are taking the time to mark Valentine’s Day, with some local businesses taking the time to decorate their workplaces for the romantic holiday.
With Valentine’s Day almost upon us, many locals are making a point to purchase gifts and make arrangements for their loved ones. While the exact origins of the holiday are shrouded in mystery and impossible to know with exactitude, it has blossomed into a day of love and romance over the centuries, providing each us of with an opportunity to give our loved ones an extra reminder of how we feel about them.
Slideshow of the Phoenix, Brown & Co, and Petals Flower Shop:
According to History.com, “The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.
“The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
“While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.”
