Do you know the Valentine's Day Story? And what does Valentine’s Day have to do with general knowledge and creative solutions you might ask? Hopefully, by the end of this article it will become clear.
I cannot remember ever celebrating Valentine's Day. I'm not saying I have never gone out on the day of love. I just can't remember it. In the summer of 2007, as a birthday gift, a friend gave me a one-hour consultation with a futurist.
The way the futurist works, is that he asks you to bring three objects that you use all the time. When he touches the object, if it it hot, that’s a good thing, if it’s cold, it’s not that great. For the consultation, I had my reading glasses, a bangle bracelet, and a pair of earrings. He decided to use my reading glasses.
My friend decided that I should see the futurist first. When he took my reading glasses, he looked at me and said, “You haven’t been lucky in love, have you?” The glasses wasn’t even warm. Was that a signal of what was supposed to come in my life?
Valentine’s Day Story: Build General Knowledge for Creative Solutions
In the book, A Technique for Producing Ideas
, James Webb Young presents a five-step creative model. In the first phase, you gather information – general and specific information. General information you will gather throughout your life. When you come across interesting information that you cannot use right away, file it away to use later. Specific information is relevant to the problem that you're trying to solve.
In this post, I will focus on general information. It's up to you to transform general information into general knowledge. It's almost Valentine's Day and I am curious how it got started. I decided to do some research to share with you. You never know what nugget of information from this post you can file away for future use. The information you find in this post, is to help you at a later day to creatively solve problems.
Who else would pair Valentine’s Day with creative problem solving?
Have you read?
A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young, Review
Valentine's Day Story: The History of Valentine’s Day
I thought that researching Valentine’s Day would be easy and straightforward, but that was not the case. A few times I've mentioned that when you’re doing research, it’s important to use more than one source. I try to live by that rule most of the time. It’s a good thing that I did this time because different sources have different information about where Valentine’s Day comes from. I can present what I found, so you can make an informed decision.
There are three main stories about how Valentine’s Day started. And one is very popular and often used because it’s so romantic. But you are special, so I will share the three stories with you.
The most common and often cited story for the origin of Valentine’s Day goes like this. There are two Valentines. This one lived during the same time as the one mentioned below. Anyway he was an Italian bishop and physician. He preached Christianity, although the Emperor Claudius II didn’t allow anyone to do so. He wouldn’t stop, so the Emperor placed Doctor Valentine in prison. While there, he healed the jailer’s daughter and even fell in love with her. Before he was executed, he left her a note, signed: From Your Valentine! Isn’t that romantic?
Another St. Valentine's Day story is that a long time ago, the Emperor, Claudius II enacted a law in AD 200s that prevented young soldiers from getting married. Building a large army was important to him so, he didn’t want the young men to stay home because of their partners. An Italian bishop and priest by the name of Valentine did not agree with the law. So he married off these soldiers. When Claudius II heard about what Valentine was doing, he arrested him and he was finally killed.
In 468 AD, on February 14th, the Roman Catholic Church sainted both the bishop and the physician. And both were beheaded on February 14th. I don’t know what to believe because some accounts of the beginning of Valentine’s Day say that it was the priest who signed: From Your Valentine. And one Valentine was a priest and the other a bishop — and no one was a physician. One thing is clear is that both were killed.
The problem is that if people do not keep accurate historical records, those who come after will have a difficult time learning about historical events. Oftentimes historians try to fill in the gaps. But in this instance, there is a problem since they have little information to work with.
The third story is that long before anyone heard about the two saints called Valentine, the Romans celebrated a festival called, Lupercalia.This festival was to honor Pan, the god of nature, and Juno, the goddess of women and marriage.
All these accounts make interesting St. Valentine's Day stories.
Commercialization of Valentine’s Day
In 1847, Esther A Howland saw a British valentine and decided to make her own. This ingenuous woman made samples and took orders from stores. She set up an assembly line of women she hired to make the cards.
This endeavor turned into a business that generated $100,000 a year. It is worth noting that many of the valentine cards from the 1800s were hand painted. I love it that a woman contributed to the Valentine's Day Story.
What practice from another country, or even another industry can you introduce to create a profitable business?
Valentine’s Day Gifts
Many centuries ago, as early as in 1400s, back in England, people sent verses to others on Valentine’s Day. In one account from the World Book, another practice is that some friends would draw names from a hat and for several days later, the men would wear their Valentine’s name on the sleeve of his shirt. These days, common Valentine’s day gifts include flowers, cards, candies, primarily chocolate.
The above is a brief history of Valentine’s Day to get your creative juices.
Valentine’s Day Story: Building Your General Knowledge for More Creative Solutions: Action Steps to Take
What do you think of the St. Valentine's Day story? Is there a way you can use the information? Below are two possible actions to take.
- Briefly research the history of Valentine’s Day to build up your general knowledge.
- Choose an industry other than your own, research it to see if there are any practices you can introduce to yours.
Sources Referenced
- Special Days in Canada: A Reading Textbook, Shirley Hilderbrand Hsu
- Valentine's Day, Valerie Bodden
- Celebrate Valentine's Day with Love, Cards, and Candy, Carolyn Otto
- World Book (reference guide)
Next Steps
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