Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for the effusive to further express the depth of their love and for the restrained to declare their true feelings – and the best way to do this? Make your declaration through a beautiful thoughtful present.
Even if you are the type to shun tradition, you can circumvent those cynical attitudes by still giving your partner the present of jewellery (which, admittedly, is on the more traditional Valentine’s gifts for couples who are serious and committed), but make that gift handmade jewellery, not mass-market mall chain store wares.
Luckily, there’s custom jewellery in Melbourne and local shoppers have the opportunity to visit the Simone West Jewellery shop, or those who live world-wide can shop online, on a website designed with the customer in mind – meaning, carefully photographed items with great detailed information. This site also affords customers the opportunity to shop anytime of the day – or night.
Unlike the aforementioned mall chain stores, Simon West features extremely knowledgeable experts who can “meet” with you one-on-one, either in person in their Melbourne shop or through online communications. If you are interested about what they can offer to you, you can get more information about their products by visiting their website.
Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas for the most cards exchanged. And, in these times when actual “snail mailed” cards are rapidly being replaced by clever, moving-image greeting “cards,” Valentine’s Day will likely emerge as the most-popular holiday in which people exchange actual paper cards, expressing their love and affection for each other. And, couple that card with handmade jewellery from Simon West and your declaration of love and affection is complete.
Despite the popularity (and pressures) Valentine’s Day boasts, there’s surprisingly little known about the holiday’s origins. And yet, despite that, more than 150 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged. There are both Christian and Roman roots in the holiday, and there are three “Valentine” saints in the Catholic Church, all of which were martyred. One was a priest who secretly married lovers after the Roman Emperor Claudius II banned marriage since single men performed better as soldiers in war. Another Valentine was likely martyred because he helped to jail-break Christians unfairly imprisoned by the Romans. Finally, a potential third Valentine was imprisoned, but fell in love with a young woman (who may have been his jailer’s daughter) and sent the watershed first “Valentine” when he sent her a letter and signed it “From your Valentine.” In other words, whichever Valentine inspired this popularity (despite the muddled origins and uncertainty of which man was the “real” Valentine) he was clearly a self-less hero who was thoughtful and celebrated love.
There’s another theory about Valentine’s Day, too. And that is when Christians pushed the agenda of St. Valentine’s to happen mid-February to combat the popular pagan celebration of Lupercalia, which was celebrated 15 February. A fertility festival, Lupercalia was, according to history.com, “dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.” Lupercalia features animal sacrifices to boost fertility and a draw to pair bachelors with single women, which often ended in marriage.
So, consider that many made sacrifices so we can have a holiday in which we celebrate love and gift-giving with our partners. And what better way to say “thanks” and “I love you” than with a present of handmade jewellery.
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