Valentine's Day... arguably one of the sexiest days of the year. After all, it's the only day on which candles, chocolate, champagne, flowers and sexy lingerie are mandatory to celebrate properly.
For the cheesy romantics out there (Samantha included), Valentine's Day is a favorite holiday. But for many others, it's explained away as a "hallmark holiday." While there is definitely that side to it, we at Oysters & Chocolate think that it's time to take back the holiday and make it something important again. We celebrate everything from the day we're born to the day we declared independence in our country to the luck of the Irish. Why not celebrate sex?
And we mean sex for everyone, not just those who happen to be with someone this Valentine's Day. If Valentine's Day can be romantic for the coupled gal, why not for the single lady as well? A good friend of ours recently confessed that she masturbated for the first time (at 28-years-old). She said (breathlessly) that she had taken a wonderful, warm bath with candles, and then curled up with a good book of erotica. What she read so stimulated her that she decided to stimulate herself. With no expectations, she reached a deliciously long climax. Afterwards, she fell asleep in her own arms with a smile on her face. It was one of the most romantic nights of her life.
And she plans on doing something very similar this Valentine's Day.
As you pick through red, lacy underwear and feathered, high-heeled shoes, know that indeed, Valentine's Day was NOT created by the greeting card companies. While there are differing opinions on the true origin of St. Valentine's Day, it most likely started with the Romans.
The ancient Romans celebrated February 14th in honor of Juno, the Queen of the Gods and Goddess of Marriage, as the kick-off to Lupercalia, the festival of fertility. The name was derived from the Latin word lupa, or "she-wolf," after whom, according to myth, the infant twins Romulus and Remus were raised. If you know your Roman history, you'll know that these twins would later grow up to found the city of Rome.
This ancient pagan ceremony may have been one of the roots of our modern "holiday of love." At that time, boys and girls were generally kept separate in Roman society, but to begin the festival, the names of all the young women in the city were placed in jars or urns. The young bachelors would then draw a name, and a match would be made. Some accounts state that these new "partners of love" would be matched for the duration of the festival. Others say that they would last for the upcoming year. Either way, many of the matches would end in marriage.
Fast-forward to the 3rd century A.D., by which time the cruel emperor Claudius II had decided that too many marriages were leading to the depletion of the ranks within the Roman legions. After all, what man in his right mind would want to go off and leave his wonderful Roman wife? So, the emperor's answer to the problem was to outlaw impending engagements. This is when, according to legend, the Christian priests Valentine and Marius continued to marry couples against the decrees of the government.
Valentine was then imprisoned. There, in A.D. 269, he met the nice daughter of his jailor, and the two began a fast, if fleeting, friendship. Valentine was sentenced to die on February 14th, which had, by then, become the day of the traditional match making "lotteries."
Before being sent off to receive his fate, he wrote his loyal friend a farewell note signed "From Your Valentine."
At last, in A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius decided that romance was good after all. But he also decided that it would be good to do away with many of the old, pagan rituals and reform the practice of the "random hook up." So, in a strange twist of fate, St. Valentine was pronounced the patron saint of lovers, and February 14th became a date for exchanging love messages, poems, and simple gifts, such as flowers.
Do something different this Valentine's Day. Buy a toy, play a game, or try a new move with your partner. While cards and chocolates are nice, something sexual is probably the most pure way to pay homage to the "She Wolf," and to celebrate sex!
xoxo
Samantha & Jordan
Originally published February 2006 - "L'Amour"