Valentines Day

Holidays are a fun way to spend time with family and friends.  We’ve been celebrating holidays for century’s and even millenniums but where did the holiday friends come from?  Cupid, Easter bunny, and Santa, even the tooth fairy of come from some typical myth but which myth or tradition did each holiday friend come from?

Cupid came from two different mythology’s Greek and Roman, both similar in their telling’s.  In Roman he was the son of Venus and Mars and in Greek he was known as Eros and a Primary God.  We all know what cupid looks like, the wings, diaper, bow and quiver of arrows.  The story goes along the lines of Cupid was forced to shoot someone which was Psyche to fall in love with a horrible creature, but Cupid not being well on his feet scratched himself instead and fell in love with her.  Not wanting her to find out he only came to visit her when she was asleep until one day she awoke and found him, which angered him because he believed himself to be a vile creature.  Yet she fell in love with him and went to Zeus/Jupiter and request immortality so she could be with him and was granted the boon.  And they live happily ever after.


 Easter Bunny was brought over from Germany to the U.S. in the late 18^th Century.  The reason the Rabbit and the egg are together is because in the Roman Catholic bible both the Rabbit and the Egg bring fertility. So, let me get this straight, the whole point of coloring and getting ready for the Easter bunny to hide the eggs is because he is planting seeds of fertility?  Wonder why it wasn’t the bunny that delivered children rather than the stork.

Everyone knows where Santa Claus came from it just depends on what storyline you go it from.  Santa aka Kris Kringle, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, and that is just few names that he has gone by in all the years that he has been in existence.  The mythology began in the 4^th Century beginning with Saint Nicholas and very generous bishop that gave the poor and needy around the Winter Solstice.  And that was the beginning of the spread of parallel lives.  All over the world the “same” man was seen doing the same acts creating the beginning of the tale of Santa Clause and how it has come to be a world holiday instead of just the U.S. or just the other countries.  Some people have even called it a phenomena due to the well out spread of cheer doing that time of year. 
           
 The tooth fairy comes from a tradition that started in Ireland and Scotland where children would bury their baby teeth into the ground hoping for the tooth fairy to come and give them a boon of money or gifts.  Usually the tooth fairy would not show until the sixth tooth was buried into the ground then she would come to give the boon.