Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who celebrates it, to anyone to whom it has the slightest of significance, to everyone out there who treasures it for the love and friendship.
Well personally I dont celebrate Valentine;s...Ive never have...for the simple reason that its a Catholic holiday...Macedonia's main religion is Orthodox Christian...but years ago people started celebrating Valentine;s Day here as well....probably coz they thought its fancy and markets and companies thought it would be a great way to earn money out of it...coz lets face it, everything that gets modern is money consuming...and what bothers me most is that here people celebrate Valentine's Day for the wrong reasons...so if you are with someone, then by default you celebrate Valentine's Day coz the calendar says so, not coz you truly believe in it...i like it that people can express their love and affection but then on the other hand, i dont like the idea of doing it on this day only...just as mother's day...i prefer to give my mum a gift on a day she least expects it than on the one where im somewhat obliged to do so...
Valentine's also somewhat depresses me, coz people so much emphasize it and in general make me feel more aware im alone...yeah, more or less ive always been alone on this day and even if i wasnt, that someone wasnt physically present so again i felt alone....thats why i dont like these holidays....they are all about being with people around you at times when i maybe dont feel like being with people....and that's just depressing...

Here on the other hand we have a holiday called St. Trifun. St. Trifun in Macedonia is considered the patron of the fields, patron of the grape fields and grape growers.

The holy martyr Trifun was born in Kampsada in Phrygia, near the town of Apameia. His healing abilities were manifested already in his childhood, when he was still tending the geese. He healed various diseases and freed people from evil demons. The stories of the miracles he performed reached far, and one day he was summoned by the Roman Emperor, Gordian, to heal his dauther Gordiana who suffered from a mental illness which no physician could heal. Trifun soon healed her, gaining even greater fame as a result.
St. Trifun died as a martyr during the rule of the Emperor Decius. He was summoned before the Emperor's regional administrator, Acquillian by name, and ordered to renounce Christ and make offerings to the Roman gods. Having refused, Trifun was tortured. He was tied to a tree and beaten with a stick, then tied to a horse's tail and dragged through the fields, and when all this failed to frighten him into changing his mind, they threatened to cut off his head. But as the soldiers were leading him outside the town to behead him, St. Trifun prayed to the Lord to take his soul, so that when they reached the place of execution his soul had already passed to God. This happened on 14th February 248, according to some in 250, when the holy martyr St. Trifun was only 21 years old.

Well, back to the Valentine's...there is a bright side on it, and that is that apart from celebrating love, it also celebrates friendship...and that is something i can accept coz ive barely seen anyone celebrating Valentine;s coz of the friendship...but thats why there are the GTKY ladies...and as it happened for Christmas, a Valentine's Flamingo was organised again...and i got a number of wonderfully hand-made cards from the ladies..with really nice thoughts and quotes...i think im really happy to know those girls
Here are the cards i had received so far...as it was for Christmas, i wont post the quotes or the personal messages....hope you have nothing against that :)

from Chrissy in the USA


from Essi in Finland


from Marta in Portugal


 
from Ana in Portugal

from Katy in Estonia

from Relie in Singapore

from Valerie in France
as i receive the rest of the cards, they will be posted below. Just want to say an enormous Thank You to to GTKY gang for being who they are and for befriending me in the first place...luv ya girls!

6 comments:

Anastasia said...

Ana, i agree to every your word! well, i loved this holiday only at school when we sent valentine cards by school mail and that was fun..

we aslo have a similar holiday in Russia, the day of St.Petr and Feuronia, the patrons of love and family, on the 8th of July. but i think no one celebrates it..

ilyani said...

same here in Malaysia. it's never seen as religious celebration here. Christians only makes up 10% of the population (even they're mostly in Borneo part) but when it comes to Valentines days it's like everyone is into it, the malls are full decorated and dedicated to this day, gift products will be on sale, etc. same also for Christmas. fact is people here like to follow what Western people do lol. I never bothered to celebrate Valentines before even though when there was someone. but when I came to Postcrossing it's always been nice to get Valentines cards :) maybe it's the main reason to be happy on this day no?

and 14 Feb is my parents' anniversary :D (they didn't even know about Valentines back then)

Happy Valentines, anyway! <3

Ana said...

@ Anastasia: heh, that Valentine thing at high-school was fun...the temptation to write a love not to the guy i had a crush on..for 4 years :P

@ imajica...i hope you didnt misunderstand me. the only positive side on this day was the GTKY Flamingo and the cards to send and receive from the girls...if it wasnt for celebrating the friendship i would have totally hated this day :)

Happy Valentines as well <3

ARTERY said...

Beautiful cards you've received!

Gabby Girl said...

Aww, they are so cute!

Marie Reed said...

My birthday is on Christmas and my son's in on V day! I wish that we hadn't been born on holidays! It makes it hard to celebrate the birthday properly!

These are such lovely and fun cards!

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