With the cold and icy winter melting off our valley as we move into our second month of the year, so too is the frost on our hearts melting as love and passion bloom in our community this Valentine’s Day. The spirit of Valentine’s Day is one of compassion and caring, and that is no different at VMS. While we put our own spin on things –Palentines Day– the principles of cherishing who we value most and showing kindness and love to all around us are still very much present. However, although we celebrate this holiday every year, I doubt very many have taken the time to actually delve into the origin of the occasion. Similarly, knowing what plans to make this Friday can be daunting. So, what is Valentine’s Day, and how is our student body planning to celebrate it this year? 

Valentine's Day, which takes place every year on the 14th of February, was originally a Christian holiday. The holiday was thrown in the form of a great feast in remembrance and honor of Saint Valentine, who died as a martyr for his religious beliefs. During the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the 3rd Century CE Rome, Claudius banned marriage with the belief that married men made bad soldiers. However, Valentine, being a priest and Christian, rejected this law, and held secret weddings. When the authorities discovered this, Valentine was sentenced to death, and the priest died on the 14th of February. And due to his commitment to God and his holy life, he was made a Saint. However, this popular story of Saint Valentine is only one of many. With hundreds of years of legends and embellishments of the Saint, the true story of Valentine and his deeds become convoluted and difficult to truly discern and choose one as the legitimate story. The theme of love for the day, which today has overtaken the once-Christian feast into a universal passionate day of celebration and relationships, has its earliest roots in a dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382 in his work, Parliament of Fowls. The piece, written in Middle English, tells the story of fouls on the day of Saint Valentine finding each other and a mate. After this dream vision, we find more and more instances of a romantic Valentine’s Day, with even Shakespeare –to the certain delight of our junior class– referencing the holiday in Hamlet: 

"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more." 

— William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5

Although most of the student body is gone this Friday the 14th with overnight trips and intraterm, students are still getting in their Valentine’s Day plans and celebrating with those they care about. Our oldest senior couple, Charlotte Johnson and Ryan do Pico, getting around the distance between them on Friday due to Intraterm, celebrated this previous weekend instead! Watching a movie together before showing up to our skating senior Connor Wadey for his Senior night game against the Durango Devils and then sharing a lovely dinner with each other at Avanti. 

Sloane & Connor: Going to dinner in Aspen on Saturday