Valentine’s Day "Facts" are Actually Fiction

Did they fact check their articles before publishing?

Every year without fail we will start seeing articles condemning Valentine’s Day as a day that should not be celebrated by Muslims in Malaysia. One of the most used and rehashed (they rehashed the article annually since god knows when) story is St Valentine was a martyr who died helping the Christians took over Cordoba from the Muslims during Queen Isabella’s reign. Because of his sacrifice the day that he was buried is celebrated as St Valentine’s Day. Because of this Valentine’s Day is "haram" to most Muslims as celebrating it is akin to celebrating the downfall of Muslim empire in Spain. Sounds plausible right? Nope it's WRONG and pure fiction.

First of all there is no St Valentine in Spain during Queen Isabella lifetime (1451 –1504 AD). Infact the only Valentine in Spain history wasthe brother of Saint Fructus, who died stopping the Moorish advance into Spain in 751AD. This is a discrepancy of 700 years between the supposed “Valentine” who helped defeat the Muslims (The Moors) and the St Valentine during Queen Isabella's reign. Saint Fructus and his brothers' sacrifice are remembered every October 24 ,during the St Fructus Feast Day. So clearly this is not the Valentine that we are looking for.

Throughout Christendom there have been 7 recorded and acknowledged St Valentines and 11 separate Valentine’s Day that occurred on different days throughout the year. THE first Valentine’s Day was in honour of Valentine of Rome (also known as Valentine of Terni) who was a priest who was martyred in 269AD. Not much is known about this St Valentine other than he was a priest who was buried in Via Flaminia on the 14th of February. The lack of background story regarding this first St Valentine leads historians to believe that Valentine’s Day was created to suppress the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a very ancient, Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. If you haven't already know, early Roman Christians assimilate their pagan celebrations with their Christian beliefs. For example the pagan celebration of sun worshipping on 25th of December is converted into Christmas day despite Jesus actually born on 17th of June! It also should be noted that the early Valentine’s day had nothing to do with love nor romance. This brings us to the modern day’s version of Valentine's day.

It is generally accepted that the modern VDay (ah senang sikit nak taip!) celebration started in the 19th century when a woman by the name of Esther Howland started designing cards for VDays. The celebration started in England before spreading around the world like it is today. In the 1950’s lovers started exchanging more than just cards and the commercialisation of VDay as we know it today started. In the 1980’s DeBeers started linking diamonds with VDays and many men end up broke so that their significant others may have the in vogue diamond VDay gift.

As you can see the modern day VDay is now perverted beyond recognition from it's Christian (or is it Pagan?) origin. I would say that the modern day VDay is not even the same VDay as celebrated in 269AD or Rome for that matter. The date and name might be the same but the one being celebrated now is totally different. Sort of how Christmas and Easter are now considered “not Christian enough" by fundamentalist Christians. In America for instance, Easter is now no longer about the resurrection of Jesus, but about the chocolate Easter bunnies. Christmas in the other hand is about Santa Claus and gifts instead of the day “Jesus was born”.

Thanks to commercialism, alot of the religious celebration is now no more than a day for capitalism to make a quick buck out of them. Only in VDay can you see a man buying roses and chocolates at twice the normal price. Free market can be such a dick come Valentine’s Day!

So why do we keep seeing the factually wrong article in MUSLIM OWNED newspaper when VDay is just days away? I guess this is another case of fictional oral history being passed around for years and years before eventually accepted as fact. The fact that it's repeatedly printed in magazines, newspaper and forwarded emails only reinforce the idea that the story is legit.

"Bai.. gua baca ni dulu dalam majalah Al Islam dan Berita Harian bai. Takkan dia nak tipu so ni mesti fakta sohih ni! Apa je dia dapat dengan menipu"
"Tapi takkan ko tak nampak banyak lobang dalam cerita ni. Takda fakta langsung cuma 2-3 cerita disambung jadi satu.Tarkih pun tak ada padanan"
"Ni la kamu Effi..... termakan dakyah setan! Pergi la sambut kalau nak masuk neraka“
"Kenapa lak aku masuk neraka kalau sambut VDay?”
"Pasal ada hadith - Sesiapa melakukan perbuatan menyerupai sesuatu kaum, maka ia termasuk bersama golongan itu”
"So you are telling me if I celebrate New Year, World Cup , AIDS day, Diabetes Day, Hari Pahlawan, Hari Guru , Hari Persahabatan dan segalanya aku masuk neraka la yek. Macam tu?”
“Ko ni memandai he Effi. Hari yang diilhamkan kaum kafir je haram”
"Abis ko ingat hari-hari yang aku listkan tadi tu siapa yang reka? Graduation day pun kaum kapir yang start dulu. Yang baling Mortar Board Hat masa graduation tu kapir yang start dulu! Masuk neraka la kamu nanti!“

MUAHAHAHAHAH! MUHAHAHAHA!!!

No seriously. Why just Valentine’s Day yang jadi mangsa? Kenapa hari PENCINTA sahaja yang asyik kena belasah? New Year’s Day bagi aku lagi iblis pasal beribu-ribu orang berkumpul dekat KLCC main snow fight. Tahun ni je berapa banyak kes orang bergaduh masa New Year’s Day. Masa VDay takde gaduh-gaduh pun. So why the double standard bitch? If you really want to stop muslims from celebrating this lover's day why can't you use actual facts? Why must we perpetuate fiction as facts? Please stop publishing this rehashed crap year in year out. If you really want to stop muslims from celebrating this day please use a better story based on facts. Better yet release a fatwa!

As usual comments and brickbats below.

Oh in case you are wondering, I never celebrated VDay myself. I refuse to blow out a few hundred bucks more for a good dinner and flowers when 24 hours later I could get the same experience twice as cheap! Me and the Mrs have BIBO DAY instead. It’s the day when we will randomly pick a date where we will meet and spend time together. It’s more special than fucking VDay since it’s OUR SPECIAL CUSTOM MADE celebration!

p/s: Free your mind, your ass will follow.