St. Valentine’s Day history, traditions and romantic getaways

 

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.-- Leo Tolstoy

Every February 14, around the world, people exchange cards, flowers, candy and gifts with their loved ones on this day of romance we call Valentine’s Day. But who is this mysterious St. Valentine, and where did these traditions come from?

February has been celebrated as a month of romance dating all the way back to ancient Rome. The Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia, was celebrated in the middle of February from Feb. 13 to 15. In the 5^th century, two martyred saints named Valentine became the origin for the Christian celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.

One St. Valentine performed marriages for young lovers in secret before he was killed; another St. Valentine, sentenced to death, wrote his love a last letter from prison signed “From your Valentine” – an expression still used today. So when Christian and ancient Roman traditions merged, they created the February 14 celebration known now as St. Valentine’s Day.

No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem by medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, written around 1375. The popular poem, written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, refers to February 14 as the day birds come together to find a mate. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in Europe that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which sparked the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

The first mass-produced valentines, with lace, ribbons and colorful pictures, began in the 1840s, created by Esther A. Howland in Massachusetts, USA. Today an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, according to the U.S. Greeting Card Association, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, after Christmas. Valentine's Day traditional gifts include cards, red roses and other flowers, chocolate and other sweets, jewelry, cute stuffed animals, and going out for a romantic dinner and evening.

How about a romantic vacation? In Central America, St. Valentine’s Day is known as “Día del Amor y la Amistad”, or Day of Love and Friendship. You can plan your romantic getaway to Central America and Central America Vacations with Central America Experience, a Costa Rica-based travel agency specializing in honeymoons, luxury vacations, family trips and adventure travel in Central America. Central America Experience offers vacation packages in Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.  

Article by Shannon Farley

Fascinating Christmas Celebrations in Central America

Some of the most elaborate traditional Christmas celebrations take place in the seven countries of Central America. Read on for more about each country’s unique festivity.

Christmas Celebrations in Central America
 


Panama

The Panama City Christmas Parade is the big festivity here. Decorated floats, marching bands and dancers in traditional costumes parade through Panama City to the beach where there is a tree lighting ceremony. At nightfall, there is also a parade of boats decorated with Christmas lights. On Christmas Eve at midnight, Panamanians shoot off fabulous fireworks. Traditional foods include chicken tamales and rice with chicken.



Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, roads, shops and houses are beautifully decorated at least a month before Christmas. Lavish dinners accompany Christmas Eve celebrations, traditionally with roasted pork leg and tamales. In Costa Rica it's not Santa Claus who brings the Christmas gifts; they are instead brought by Baby Jesus on the night before Christmas called “La Noche Buena” (the Good Night).

Nicaragua

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, called “La Purísima”, starts off the Christmas season in Nicaragua. On Dec. 8, young people go caroling from house to house in celebration of the Immaculate Conception, and there are processions with statues of the Virgin Mary.



El Salvador

Christmas in El Salvador focuses on family. Most families go to midnight mass together and then return home to begin an all-night party with a large dinner, serving roasted turkey, rice and chicken, and potato salad. As they wait for the arrival of Santa Claus, children play with sparklers, and fireworks are set off.



Guatemala
 
In Guatemala, Christmas blends the Mayan culture with Roman Catholicism. Antigua, Guatemala, one of the oldest and most beautiful colonial cities in Central America, stages impressive traditional Catholic Christmas processions and festivals. In the nearby Mayan market town of Chichicastenango, vividly costumed indigenous dancers act out plays and musicals that blend modern Christianity with ancient Mayan beliefs. Most churches and public areas display Nativity scenes, and everyone always goes to Midnight Mass on Dec. 24, known as “La Misa del Gallo,” or the “Mass of the Rooster”.



Honduras
 
People in Honduras also go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, followed by a special dinner with tamales, roasted pork, chicken with rice, and torrejas – bread fried with honey and cinnamon – for dessert with eggnog. Las Posadas is a common tradition in Honduras, held from Dec. 16 to 24 when participants reenact the journey Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem searching for a place to stay. The ritual involves statues of saints traveling to different designated homes each night as a way to symbolize the historic journey.



Belize
 
Having been colonized by the British, Belize is mainly a Christian nation, so you will see Christmas traditions like Christmas trees, decorated homes and midnight mass celebrations. However, indigenous and West African cultures also influenced local traditions like the Garifuna Wanaragua celebration, which happens on Christmas Day in towns like Dangriga where the West African culture is strong. Wanaragua is a masked Christmas procession where locals dress up in costumes meant to mimic the dress of their original European captors.

Travel to Central America with Central America Experience, a Costa Rica-based travel agency specializing vacation packages to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize.

Article by Shannon Farley