Offerings to the God of Love
Each year on February 14th, St. Valentine's Day, gifts of flowers, chocolates and terms of
endearment will be delivered to loved ones around the world. Nearly every
delivery will be met with welcome, whether the arrangement of flowers is
artistically unique, or a simple, single long-stemmed rose; or if the chocolates
are white, dark or filled with cream or nuts. Why are these symbols so well
accepted by society? The answer may lie in ourselves.
The history of a tradition need not be the true driving force of its
popularity. Santa Claus wears a red and white suit, but this now all-important
symbol of Christmas has more to do with Coca Cola marketing than Christ's birth
or gift-giving. We accept new aspects into our traditions, and lose others along
the way, eventually even giving credit where it is undue.
This transformation suggests that traditions are susceptible - often changing
to meet the sensibilities of the current society in which they reside. We no
longer make sacrifices to God on an altar, replacing this tradition with one
where we pass around a plate for cash to serve His purposes nonetheless. Radical
shifts in tradition can be religion-shattering, causing divisions and
subdivisions within a church - each with their own evolving traditions.
Yet in the end, after countless years of morphing, common threads reappear
among distantly related traditions. Muslims, Christians and Jews have related
roots, with their traditions evolving quite independently. Why, then, do they
all agree on the religious necessity of charity? And why are the fasts of
Ramadan, Lent and Gedalya integral to the orthodox?
In each case, we see a
tradition where one "gives up" something necessary to their life -
typically by fasting, and "gives to" another, by means of
charity, or sacrifice. The Christian tradition of communion is a
single event encompassing both: The Body of Christ is given to His followers
as a sacrifice to them. His bones and blood are delivered as bread and wine
- materials essential to life. Under this tradition, then, His free
sacrifice of self keeps us alive.
Love and passion are often
metaphorically referred to as fire. Once a romance is
"kindled", "burning desire" or "flames of
passion", need occasional "fuel" to keep them alive,
lest they fade to "dying embers". And since food and fuel are
metaphorically interchangeable ("feed the fire"; "Fuel
for Kids"), it would then come as no surprise to find metaphorical
equivalents of "food for love" in the sacrificial process of
Valentines gift giving.
Chocolates are full of sugar, and sugar full of
energy. So full, that chocolate bar manufacturer Mars now refers to them as
energy bars. Their recent commercials are decidedly sexual, and decidedly
energetic. Why not? The hormone phenethylamine (PEA) abounds in chocolate, which
produces the same sensation as being in love. Chocolates, then, are fuel for
both the mental and physical aspects of romance. Small wonder that men offer
it to women by the heavy boxful.
Flowers grow in the spring. This
time for reproduction among plants, is also quite popular among animals.
Humans call this "spring fever". That we give a gift that visually
suggests that love is in season is only part of the passion-feeding
story. Flowers have a scent that is the essential ingredient of perfume -
perfume, which, according to virtually every advertisement, somehow commands
a sexual response. Pheromones, a chemical "your place or mine?"
are thought to be the means of expressing sexual-appetite in both
successful perfumes and successful body odours. Finally, we find ourselves
giving specifically roses - flowers which are coloured red - on Valentine's
day, a colour choice which, on further reflection, seems no coincidence at
all.
Our very symbols of passionate love - hearts and the colour red -
universally fuel our Valentine's Day cards. When passionately aroused, our
hearts will pound, filling our faces with blood and readying us for
passionate expression. The rhythm of the heart echoes in romantic music. The
red and the heart are no metaphor - they are a direct representation of the
physical effects of passion: food for primal thought.
Valentine's
Day is a day that we make offerings to our loves - not our loved
ones. Love is treated as a God, which, though taking no physical form,
has all the demands of a living creature. Chemically, we feed the passion
with the pheromones found in flowers and perfume, and the hormone found in
chocolate. Visually, we give the sexual "ready and willing" signal
with the colour red and flowers. Energetically, we provide the bounty of sweets
for the sweet. Physically, we show a heart and listen to music, to bring
to mind the throbbing sensation of passionate love. Words of deepest
sentiment will fill our Valentine's cards, expressing every word a soul
needs to hear to survive: "You're special", "I love you"
and "I need you". In all, our gifts reflect the things of love so
well, that all they need is a body to possess. Love is our master, and saviour,
and we must make sacrifice to this God on Valentine's Day.
Because
if we don't...
