The art of love

“Love is in the air” — February is popularly known as the “month of love” — it is a month in which the day “February 14”, Valentine’s Day, is commemorated annually world over to celebrate love.
Valentine’s is a day when friends, suitors, lovers, engaged and married couples express and declare their love and affection for each other by presenting flowers, gifts, confectionery as well as exchange anonymous love notes, also known as “valentines”.
Symbols of love and art
The heart and red rose are the symbol of Valentine’s Day. Other symbols include heart-shaped pillows and cushions, a pair of love doves, and the figure of the winged boy, known as “Cupid”. This youthful character in Roman mythology (whose counterpart in Greek mythology is known as “Eros”), is frequently shown shooting his arrow from his bow to inspire romantic love. He is depicted in pictures as an icon of Valentine’s Day, as the personification of love and courtship.
In paintings and sculpture he is portrayed as “puto” — a winged boy or baby, in diapers and armed with a bow and golden arrows (huta nemuseve). In Roman mythology, Cupid’s female partner is knows as “psyche”, which means “soul”. It has been said that any person who Cupid shoots with his arrow falls deeply in love forever with the person nearest to them.
History, Legends and Myth
The history of St Valentine’s Day dates back to AD 269. A priest named Valentine of Rome was martyred for refusing to change from Christianity. His relics are still buried at Via Flaminia, in the Church of St Praxed in Rome. His death is commemorated on the 14th of February each year. In 1969, a revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of the Saint Valentine, was removed from the general Roman calendar for the following reasons:
“Although 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 February the 14th.”
However, the feast is still celebrated throughout the world by traditional Christians, who follow the pre-second Vatican Council Calendar.
Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle, by healing the blind daughter of his jailer, by restoring her sight. It is said on the evening before his execution, he wrote the first “valentine” card to the jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and healed. It was a note that read “. . . From your Valentine          . . . ”
Lovebirds in Literature
The first  recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love can be found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s  “Parlement of Faules” (1382), written in Old English.
Chaucer wrote: “For this was on seynt Volantynys day when euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.” (For it was St Valentine’s Day when every bird comes there to choose his mate.)
The poem was written to honour the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard the Second of England to Anne of Bohemia. A Treaty providing for their marriage was signed on May 2, 1381.
Another writer, William Shakespeare, also mentions Valentine’s Day in the play “Hamlet” (1600-1601).
“Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day,
all in the morning be time,
and I am maid at your window,
to be your Valentine.” — (Hamlet, Act IV. Scene 5 ).
A History of Valentine’s Cards
So popular became the sending of notes on Valentine’s Day, that in 1797, a British publisher issued “The Young Man’s Valentine Writer”, which contained many sentimental verses for the young lover help him to compose his own verse. With the introduction of the “Penny Post” (the introduction of reduced postage rates) by the turn of the next century, the 18th, ushered in an easier way of mailing printed cards, which in turn made it possible to exchange cards anonymously for the first time.
Paper valentines were so popular in the early 19th century in England, that they were being assembled in factories for the first time.
Customs, “courtship” love and proposals
Courtship rites are not exclusive to the Western world. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa boasts some of the most sophisticated methods of courtly love. Proposals of love and choosing a prospective bride involves members of the family, friends, emissaries (sahwira, munyayi), who carry out the procedure of courtship and the negotiations for the cows required as bride price.
Traditionally, there were often gifts and tokens of love exchanged between the parties. However, these days “roora” is being commercialised superseding its cultural symbolism as a fortifying amalgamation of families.
It is, however, the norm in contemporary African societies to observe Valentine’s Day as a commemoration of “love”.
Tokens of love
Young Ndebele maidens wove beautiful, intricate baskets of illala palm as an indication of her domestic skills to be given to her groom to be. Similarly, Zulus made bead works that signified purity, spiritual love, fidelity and faithfulness.
Although symbols of love like rings, flowers and other material objects communicate heralds of hope and love, it is the feeling behind the symbols that count most. Symbols are properly used only when devotion, fidelity, happiness and love accompany them.
“Your love is worth more than any other gift you could possibly give. And you deserve to receive far more than material gifts . . . You deserve love itself.”
So spoil your loved one this Valentine’s Day with gifts of real love, positive love, healthy love. — Commissioned by Caps Holdings, QV Pharmacies, Zimbabwe.
l Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Post-Modern Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA Doctorate in Business Administration in Post Colonial Art and Heritage Studies. He is also  a practising artist, visual designer and art critic.