七夕節內容英文版（2.14情人節的來歷故事中英文）
2023-10-15 10:20:44 2
情人節，又叫聖瓦倫丁節或聖華倫泰節（St. Valentine's Day），即每年的2月14日，是西方的傳統節日之一。
男女在這一天互送巧克力、賀卡和花，用以表達愛意或友好。
關於情人節的起源，大致有2種不同說法：
說法一：
公元3世紀，羅馬帝國皇帝克勞迪烏斯二世在首都羅馬宣布廢棄所有的婚姻承諾，當時是出於戰爭的考慮，使更多無所牽掛的男人可以走上爭戰的疆場。
一名叫瓦侖廷（Sanctus Valentinus）的神父沒有遵照這個旨意而繼續為相愛的年輕人舉行教堂婚禮。事情被告發後，瓦侖廷神父先是被鞭打，然後被石頭擲打，最後在公元270年2月14日這天被送上了絞架被絞死。14世紀以後，人們就開始紀念這個日子。現在，中文譯為「情人節」的這個日子，在西方國家裡就被稱為Valentine's Day，用以紀念那位為情人做主而犧牲的神父。
與此相關的其他傳說，包括這位神父幫助天主教徒從羅馬監獄裡逃脫而被處死。
在這個神父在監獄裡時，據說他送出了第一個「情人節」祝福。據說他愛上了曾來監獄看望他，獄長失明的女兒亞斯得莉斯，並奇蹟地治好了她的眼睛，使之重見光明。在他臨刑前，給女孩一封信，署名「from your Valentine」（這個表達現在還在使用）。儘管這些傳說不真切，但是卻表達了他的富有同情心、英雄氣概、以及最重要的浪漫主義的人格。
說法二：
來源於古羅馬的牧神節（Lupercalia Festival）
這個說法是基督教會慶祝這一天是為了把古羅馬的牧神節（每年的2月15日慶祝，為了保佑人、田、牲畜的生產力）基督教化。在古羅馬，2月春天的開始，被認為是純潔的。按照一定的儀式打掃房屋，然後把鹽水和一種小麥灑遍房間。
牧神節，是為了慶祝羅馬的農神Faunus 和羅馬的奠基人Romulus和Remus。這個節日開始時，Luperci的成員（也就是羅馬祭司的一種）會聚集在一個神聖的山洞裡。這個山洞被認為是還是嬰兒的Romulus和Remus待過的地方。在這個洞裡，他們由一頭母狼，lupa，照料。祭司們會犧牲一頭羊，為了生殖；一隻狗，為了純潔。
然後男孩子會把羊的皮撕成小條，蘸上神聖的血後，跑到街上用它輕輕的抽打女人和田裡的莊稼。羅馬的女人不僅不會害怕，反而會樂意被羊皮條接觸，因為據說這樣她們在這一年裡就會生殖力旺盛。後來，根據傳說，這個城市所有的女人會把自己的名字放到一個花瓶裡。單身漢們會從裡面選一個。這樣這一年裡，他們就是一對。通常他們會結婚。
教皇在大約公元498年宣布2月14日是情人節。羅馬人的這種婚配方式被基督教徒認為是不合法的。中世紀時，在英國和法國，通常認為2月14日是鳥交配的季節。因此就把此日增加了一個內容，那就是它應該是一個浪漫的日子。
最早的情人節禮物是奧爾良的公爵，查理斯在倫敦塔獄中寫給他妻子的詩。因為他在Agincourt戰役中被俘虜了。現在這個寫於1415年的祝福被收藏在倫敦的大英博物館。幾年以後，英皇亨利五世僱John Lydgate寫了一首曲子給Catherine of Valois作為情人節禮物。
Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards or candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.[1]
In the United States, the marketing of Valentine's Day has tagged it as a "Hallmark holiday." A recent trend has been to refer to February 14 as Singles Awareness Day.
At least three early Christian Roman martyrs named Valentinus are known (see Saint Valentine for more details). In the two most prominent Valentinus traditions, represented by late fictionalized acta that were both included in Bede, the martyrs were venerated on the same day, February 14, though the years, as they represent two traditions, varied according to the source.[2] An overview of attested traditions relevant to the holiday is presented below, with the legends about Valentine himself discussed in the end.
[edit] February fertility festivals
It has been hypothesised [specify][citation needed] that Graeco-Roman holidays devoted to fertility and love might be related to St Valentine's Day, since there is some correspondence between the time when they were celebrated.
On the ancient Athenian calendar, the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.
In Ancient Rome, February 15 was Lupercalia. Plutarch wrote:
Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.[5]
The word Lupercalia comes from lupus, or wolf, so the holiday may be connected with the legendary wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. Priests of this cult, luperci would travel to the lupercal, the cave where the she-wolf who reared Romulus and Remus allegedly lived, and sacrifice animals (two goats and a dog). The blood would then be scattered in the streets, to bring fertility and keep the wolves away from the fields. [6] Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier "or "the chaste Juno," was celebrated on February 13-14. Pope Gelasius I (492-496) abolished Lupercalia. Some historians [specify][citation needed] argue that Candlemas (then held on February 14, later moved to February 2) was promoted as its replacement, but this feast was already being celebrated in Jerusalem by AD 381. The pope also declared in 496 that the feast of St. Valentine would be on February 14.
[edit] Chaucer's love birds
A portrait of English poet Geoffrey Chaucer by Thomas Hoccleve (1412). The earliest known link between Valentine's Day and romance is found in Chaucer's poetry.The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer:[3]
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate].
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia[7]. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381.[8] (When they were married eight months later, he was 13 or 14. She was 14.)
On the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307.[9][10] Readers incorrectly assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day. However, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England.[4]
Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is generally set in a supposed context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among eighteenth-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentin'e Day customed perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present"[5]
[edit] Medieval and modern times
Swedish calendar showing St Valentine's Day, February 14, 1712Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a "High Court of Love" was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading.[11][12]
The earliest surviving valentine is a fifteenth-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his "valentined" wife, which commences.
Je suis desja d'amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée… (Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2)
At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415.[6]
Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in Hamlet (1600-01): "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day."
In 1836, relics of St. Valentine of Rome were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. In the 1960s, the church was renovated and relics restored to prominence.[13]
In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on 14 February was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on 14 February."[7] The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan and in Malta where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Vatican II calendar.
Valentine's Day postcard, circa 1910
Tree decorated for Valentine's DayValentine's Day was probably imported into North America in the 19th century by British settlers. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828-1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, and she took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received. Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary."
In the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.
The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of "Happy Valentine's Day."
In some North American elementary schools, students are asked to give a Valentine card or small gift to everyone in the class. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other.
[edit] The evolving legend
The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were excerpted by Bede and briefly expounded in Legenda Aurea,[8] According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.
Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved,[9] as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed,[10] or both.[11] It was a note that read "From your Valentine."[9]
In another apparently modern embellishment[citation needed], while Valentine was imprisoned, people would leave him little notes, folded up and hidden in cracks in the rocks around his cell. He would find them and offer prayers for them.
