moldyoldy

To many, Valentine's Day is all about Whitman's Samplers, the boxed chocolate gift that was first produced in 1842, bouquets of flowers, special cards and taking your loved one out to dinner. You could argue that the day is a retailer's contrivance engineered to force a wave of consumer spending between Christmas and Mother's Day. This observation has more t***h than falsehood, albeit in a very cynical way.

The prevailing view of the origin of Valentine's Day harks back to the 4th Century and the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was traditionally held in mid-February. I believe that once you start talking about centuries in the single digits, words like "harks" are required. I will refrain from ending every verb with "th", but you get the point. Evidently, the festival heralded (another good single-digit century word) the coming of Spring. As such, there were fertility rites and the introduction of women to men by lottery, the ancient predecessor to Match.com. Since they met face to face, the current practice of photo and bio fraud that dominates online dating was avoided. Pope Gelasius I is credited with renaming the holiday "St. Valentine's Day" some time in the late 5th Century. At least that is what my research sayeth!

There is a hot debate over who is the true St. Valentine. But, lest us dwell too long on matters of heresy and folly, we must sally forth on to new worlds of inquiry. Anyone feel like jousting? Drinking grog? Didn't think so.

For those seeking a jazzy way to celebrate Valentine's Day, we recommend the following playlist (click here to listen):

"Blue in Green" – Bill Evans Trio
"When I Fall in Love" – Brad Mehldau
"The Very Thought of You" – Nancy Wilson
"You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" – Chet Baker
"As Time Goes By" – Steve Tyrell
"My Foolish Heart" – Kurt Elling
"For Sentimental Reasons" – Nat King Cole Trio
"Stardust" – Harry Connick Jr.
"They Can't Take That Away From Me" – Diana Krall