Ash Wednesday’s modern popularity is so strong that it has spread well beyond its originally Roman Catholic context. So this year’s inconvenient coincidence of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day has sparked a surprising amount of even secular commentary. Of course, in my line of work, Valentine’s Day has no place. The post-conciliar Roman calendar having ridiculously removed the celebration of Saint Valentine himself, I have no obligation to take any notice of the occasion at all. So I am at most a passive spectator in the debate about how best to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.
Given today’s long tradition as a day of feasting – Carnevale, Mardi Gras – it would seem sensible, for those who care about Valentine’s Day, to anticipate their celebrations today. That certainly seems more appropriate than the alternative of postponing it to Thursday, which is, after all, the second day of Lent, which is a six-week season of penance, not a single day of ashes.
Anyway, I hope those to whom this holiday applies are able to do it the justice they undoubtedly feel it deserves. And, while perhaps under more normal conditions I might not care that much, nothing is normal anymore, and this year I am aware of at least one additional reason to give at least two cheers for Valentine’s Day.
Patriarch Kiril, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and thus Vladimir Putin’s spiritual cheerleader in his war of aggression against Ukraine and Western civilization, has added Valentine’s Day to his list of enemies. “The celebration of the so-called ‘Valentine’s Day,’ imported from the West, also raises many questions,” Kiril claims. “Despite all attempts to ennoble it,” Kiril says that Valentine’s Day “still remains propaganda of relationships that have nothing to do with true love.”
So take that, you romantic couples, friendship-celebrating school children, and everyone else who enjoys the holiday – not to mention the florists and chocolate sellers who profit so handsomely from it! Now that Putin’s chaplain has weighed in, will MAGA world be far behind? After all, MAGA world has already gone to war against romance in its insane response to Taylor and Travis. Perhaps the whole romance-related industry is also some deep-state, pro-Biden, anti-Putin plot that needs to be attacked too?
Assuming that is not the case, to all who choose to celebrate it today:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
