Valentine’s Day & Love
Human is born with love and tastes the unconditional love from his birth, so it can be said that, since the very beginning of the existence, love has always been there; actually, love is something we are unconsciously very well-acquainted with; it is sublime and truly divine, so we should definitely celebrate it every day, not just on Valentine’s Day. Encompassing a range of feelings, love is so complex to be discussed in a few words, therefore, we’re going to give some clear and simple definitions of the word ‘love’, plus some common expressions used with this word and also, we’ll have a look on Valentine’s Day history and traditions.
What’s love?
Love is mostly defined as a strong emotion or a powerful feeling of caring about someone especially your family or friends or liking someone a lot combined with sexual attraction. Merriam Webster defines it as “a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person” which motherly or maternal love is a clear example of it. The other meaning it offers is “attraction that includes sexual desire: the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship”.
Love also refers to a person; “a person you love in a romantic way” such as your husband, girlfriend, or partner. Some people feel like they have a lost love and they keep looking for the love of their lives; it’s also possible to fall in love at first sight which is when you love someone as soon as you meet them, or to put it in better terms, you lose your heart to him/her immediately; however, not all love stories go well as lovers may break up with each other or one of them dumps the other which is very heart-breaking as most of the time, it’s hard to forget your first love.
After all, we shouldn’t forget the fact that ‘love is blind’ and that refers to the idea that people do not notice the faults of the person they love and that’s definitely true when someone is deeply in love. some people find their true love much earlier than others, but some wait for years looking for their true soulmates. There are also people who have no love lost between them, which means they dislike each other.
When you meet the love of your life, you might fall in love with him/her the minute you see him/her and since then you can say that you are in love. Lovers make love very often which means they have sex. Unfortunately, there is also one-sided love, in which the person you love does not return your love; this form of love is called unrequited love, and it’s as if one lover carries a torch for his/her beloved. There’s no way to win his/her heart.
There’s one higher form of love which is called Platonic love; in this form of love there’s a deep affection but no passion; it’s unconditional form of love which carries no sexual desire but a genuine attraction and friendship; this form of love was first discussed by Plato, and that’s why it’s branded as platonic love; insincere love that includes only sexual desire is called petty love.
History of Valentine’s Day
St. Valentine’s Day, or simply Valentine’s Day is a holiday which is observed on February 14 every year; on this special day, lovers celebrate their love, affection and friendship mainly by exchanging chocolates, greetings and roses. There are different stories about the origins of this day, and it’s not clear which one is the real story.
There are theories that the day has taken its name from a priest who was martyred - killed - about 270 CE by the Roman emperor, Claudius II. Based on this legend, the emperor had banned marriage due to the war and he wanted all young forces free from family devotion, but a priest called Saint Valentine, disobeyed and defied the emperor’s orders, and performed marriage for lovers in secret; this disobedience cost the priest his life.
One other legend says that an imprisoned priest had been in love with the daughter of his jailor and had sent her a letter signed off “From your Valentine”; this expression is still used on Valentine’s greetings. There’s no clear document showing the exact origin of Valentine’s Day, and it has always been shrouded in mystery; however, what counts now is that we should value love and its nature knowing that life means nothing without love.
What do people do on Valentine’s Day?
Valentine’s Day is not all about lovers but every one who cares and has affection for his friends, family members or love. On this day, people exchange gifts using love themes, like greetings, roses, chocolates, candies; they attend fancy restaurants, drink together, listen to romantic songs, make love, or party with friends; children also make cards for their classmates or friends; this is a great way to learn how to express your love towards others.
Some common love symbols include red hearts, roses, bows, and arrows and Cupid. Cupid, God of love and the son of Venus, is a mythical figure which is believed that by shooting two different people with his arrows of love, they fall in love with each other. The letters or messages are signed off with “From your Valentine” or “Be my Valentine”.
Valentine’s day or any similar day which celebrate love, are great opportunities for all of us to spread our love, and celebrate it with our loved ones. Therefore, what the true history of Valentine’s Day is doesn’t matter, what counts most is that it offers us this great chance to appreciate our love, our partners, and people we care about the most.
Other ways of saying ‘I love you’
There are different ways of expressing your love and affection to someone and ‘I love you’ has become a romantic cliché as it conveys the feelings and sensations we wish to express. Of course, there are no strict rules or fixed words in order to show your love to someone, you can customize your own version and say it the way you can best put it since it is truly hard to put feelings into words. Anyway, here are some other ways of saying ‘I love you’ that might be useful:
- I’m crazy about you.
- You are the love of my life.
- I’m madly in love with you.
- I’m deeply in love with you.
- I love you to the moon & back.
- You are the only ray of sunshine in my life.
- I love you with all my heart and soul.
- I’m fond of you.
- I love you from the bottom of my heart.
Synonyms of love
The word ‘love’ is commonly used both as a noun and as a verb with meanings discussed earlier. There are some other vocabularies and phrases which can describe the type of affection more specifically. Let’s take a look at them; pay attention to their part of speech and the way they are used in the expression.
- Be fond of somebody: When you are fond of someone, you like them very much, especially when you have known them for a long time and almost feel love for them. Over the years Joe & Sarah have grown very fond of each other.
- Love: to like someone very much and care a lot about them; it’s used especially about family members or someone who you are sexually attracted to. For example: verb - I love my wife and children very much. noun - We don’t need words to express our love for each other.
- Be in love with somebody: to feel that you love someone and want to have a romantic relationship with them. She was in love with a man who was much older than her.
- Adore: to love and admire someone very much: When she was a child, she adored her father.
- Be infatuated with somebody: to love someone a lot and keep thinking about them, in a way that seems silly because you do not know them very well: adjective - He became infatuated with a woman he met at a conference. noun - She hoped that his ridiculous infatuation would soon wear off.
- Have a crush on somebody: a very strong feeling of love and sexual attraction for someone such as a teacher or a famous person, especially when there is no chance of you having a relationship with that person because you are much younger than them: She had a teenage crush on one of her teachers.
- Be crazy about somebody informal - to love someone very much. She’s crazy about you.
- Be devoted to somebody: to love someone very much and give them a lot of attention. He was devoted to his wife and his children. Devotion - noun His recovery is largely due to the devotion of his wife and family
- Affection noun: a gentle feeling of love which makes you want to be kind to someone and show them that you love them – used especially about friends and members of your family: My mother never showed us any affection.
- Passion noun: a strong and exciting feeling of love for someone you are extremely sexually attracted to. There was no passion in their relationship.
- Romance noun: the feeling of loving someone and the nice things you do to show this – used about someone you are sexually attracted to: In the UK, one in ten people have found romance over the Internet.
Valentine's Day, Love
Robi B