History of Valentine's Day

Every year, the fourteenth day of the month of February has millions across the world presenting their loved ones with candy, flowers, chocolates and other lovely gifts. In many countries, restaurants and eateries are seen to be filled with couples who are eager to celebrate their relationship and the joy of their togetherness through delicious cuisines. There hardly seems to be a young man or woman who is not keen to make the most of the day.
Gifts for Valentine's Day

The reason behind all of this is a kindly cleric named Valentine who died more than a thousand years ago.

It is not exactly known why the 14th of February is known as Valentine's Day or if the noble Valentine really had any relation to this day. Saint ValentineThe history of Valentine's Day is impossible to be obtained from any archive and the veil of centuries gone by has made the origin behind this day more difficult to trace. It is only some legends that are our source for the history of Valentine's Day.

The modern St. Valentine's Day celebrations are said to have been derived from both ancient Christian and Roman tradition. As per one legend, the holiday has originated from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalis/Lupercalia, a fertility celebration that used to observed annually on February 15. But the rise of Christianity in Europe saw many pagan holidays being renamed for and dedicated to the early Christian martyrs. Lupercalia was no exception. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius turned Lupercalia into a Christian feast day and set its observance a day earlier, on February 14. He proclaimed February 14 to be the feast day in honor of Saint Valentine, a Roman martyr who lived in the 3rd century. It is this St. Valentine whom the modern Valentine's Day honors.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by the name of Valentine. While one was a priest in Rome, another was a bishop in Terni. Nothing is known about the third St. Valentine except that he met his end in Africa. Surprisingly, all three of them were said to have been martyred on 14th February.

It is clear that Pope Gelasius intended to honor the first of these three aforementioned men. Most scholars believe that this St. Valentine was a priest who lived around 270 AD in Rome and attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II who ruled during this time.

The story of St. Valentine has two different versions - the Protestant and the Catholic one. Both versions agree upon Saint Valentine being a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in opposition to Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men and was executed by the latter. During the lifetime of Valentine, the golden era of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Education declined, taxation increased and trade witnessed a very bad time. The Roman empire faced crisis from all sides, from the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asia. The empire had grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Naturally, more and more capable men were required to to be recruited as soldiers and officers to protect the nation from takeover. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. He believed that marriage made the men weak. So he issued an edict forbidding marriage to assure quality soldiers.

The ban on marriage was a great shock for the Romans. But they dared not voice their protest against the mighty emperor. The kindly bishop Valentine also realized the injustice of the decree. He saw the trauma of young lovers who gave up all hopes of being united in marriage. He planned to counter the monarch's orders in secrecy. Whenever lovers thought of marrying, they went to Valentine who met them afterwards in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. And thus he secretly performed many marriages for young lovers. But such things cannot remain hidden for long. It was only a matter of time before Claudius came to know of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested.

While awaiting his sentence in prison, Valentine was approached by his jailor, Asterius. It was said that Valentine had some saintly abilities and one of them granted him the power to heal people. Asterius had a blind daughter and knowing of the miraculous powers of Valentine he requested the latter to restore the sight of his blind daughter. The Catholic legend has it that Valentine did this through the vehicle of his strong faith, a phenomenon refuted by the Protestant version which agrees otherwise with the Catholic one. Whatever the fact, it appears that Valentine in some way did succeed to help Asterius' blind daughter.

Claudius IIWhen Claudius II met Valentine, he was said to have been impressed by the dignity and conviction of the latter. However, Valentine refused to agree with the emperor regarding the ban on marriage. It is also said that the emperor tried to convert Valentine to the Roman gods but was unsuccesful in his efforts. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. This angered Claudius II who gave the order of execution of Valentine.

Meanwhile, a deep friendship had been formed between Valentine and Asterius' daughter. It caused great grief to the young girl to hear of his friend's imminent death. It is said that just before his execution, Valentine asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after. As per another legend, Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his jailer during his imprisonment. However, this legend is not given much importance by historians. The most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not centered on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion. Valentine is believed to have been executed on February 14, 270 AD.

Thus 14th February became a day for all lovers and Valentine became its Patron Saint. It began to be annually observed by young Romans who offered handwritten greetings of affection, known as Valentines, on this day to the women they admired. With the coming of Christianity, the day came to be known as St. Valentine's Day.

But it was only during the 14th century that St. Valentine's Day became definitively associated with love. UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of "Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine", credits Chaucer as the one who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance. In medieval France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14. Hence, Chaucer used the image of birds as the symbol of lovers in poems dedicated to the day. In Chaucer's "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are related:

"For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate."

By the Middle Ages, Valentine became as popular as to become one of the most popular saints in England and France. Despite attempts by the Christian church to sanctify the holiday, the association of Valentine’s Day with romance and courtship continued through the Middle Ages. The holiday evolved over the centuries. By the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts began to be created on this day and handed over to the man or woman one loved. Valentine's day greeting cardThis tradition eventually spread to the American colonies. It was not until the 1840s that Valentine's Day greeting cards began to be commercially produced in the U.S. The first American Valentine's Day greeting cards were created by Esther A. Howlanda Mount Holyoke, a graduate and native of Worcester. Mass. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". It was when Howland began Valentine's cards in a large scale that the tradition really caught on in the United States.

Today, Valentine's Day is one of the major holidays in the U.S. and has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are "valentine"s. The "valentines", as Valentine's Day cards are better known as, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest valentines was sent in 1415 AD by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife during his imprisonment in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

There may be doubts regarding the actual identity of Valentine, but we know that he really existed because archaeologists have recently unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to a Saint Valentine.

Article Source : http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/history_of_valentine.htm

Positive Affirmations to Boost Confidence

Positive affirmations can be a very powerful tool in the process of boosting confidence levels. These statements can do wonders to transform negative thoughts and feelings into supportive and motivational encouragement. Positive affirmations can increase your feelings of personal worth, empower you to take on difficult tasks, help you cope with change, and allow you to deal with stress. Here are ten positive affirmations to help get you on your way to becoming a stronger person.

• "Stressful Situations Are Just Challenges": Learn to handle stress in a constructive way that you can grow from. Stress can be quite debilitating, but it does not have to be. You can work at teaching yourself to take stressful situations as a challenge. Challenges bring many opportunities that can easily be missed if you are not careful.

• "I Can Handle Whatever Comes My Way": Rather than automatically thinking that you cannot handle stressful situations, take them as they come and work with them. Instead of trying to fight off something that does not immediately make you happy, meet it head on, and work with what you have. If you spend your time and energy working with, rather than against, a situation you will have much less conflict in your life.

• "I Can Accomplish Anything I Set My Mind To": Instead of automatically assuming you cannot do something, convince yourself that you absolutely can! This may be one of the most beneficial positive affirmations that you can give yourself. By repeating this statement anytime you feel overwhelmed you will give yourself the courage needed to step up and take on any challenge. If you truly believe you can do anything, you can.

• "I Am A Strong Person": Lack of self-esteem can often make a person feel very beaten down. Reminding yourself that you are a strong person on a regular basis is one of the best positive affirmations that can help boost your confidence level and keep you from feeling taken advantage of.

• "I Am Doing My Very Best": It is not uncommon to start to believe that you are worthless or that you have nothing to offer when you lack self-confidence. Remembering to believe in yourself, and that you are doing the very best you can will help you to feel a sensation of inner peace. The best you can do is the best you can do, and you have to learn to be happy with that.

• "I Am In Charge Of My Life": The next of the positive affirmations reminds you that you, and only you, are in charge of your life. Only you can change the way you think and act. If you truly want to be happier and boost your confidence level, it must come from within.

• "Happiness Begins With Me": Happiness comes from within, and you must choose to be happy. Positive affirmations such as this remind you that you need to make a conscious choice to be positive, and look to find the good in every situation. Once you begin to find your own personal happiness, others will gravitate toward you.

• "I Can Remain Calm Under Pressure": Learning how to remain calm in the face of pressure is key to boosting your personal confidence. If you react too quickly to a particular situation and lash out, others will not feel comfortable around you. If you can remain calm in a stressful situation, deal with the issue, and work to resolve it in a positive manner you will feel much better about yourself and others will be more apt to work with you.

• "I Will Find The Good": Teaching yourself to find the good in any situation is one of the positive affirmations that just about every person can benefit from. It is extremely easy to revert to negative feelings, and have a very depressed general attitude. It takes work to be positive, and finding the good in any circumstance will help you to have a more positive outlook on life.

• "This Too Shall Pass": The last of the positive affirmations reminds you that no matter how dire the situation seems, it will pass with time. In many cases, the problem that is causing you unhappiness is very short lived and really has no lasting impact on your life. Reminding yourself of this will help you to get through the issue faster while increasing your self-confidence.

Positive affirmations should be practiced everyday. The more you repeat these statements to yourself, the better you will feel. In time this will lead you to have more self-esteem and take on more challenges you would have once hesitated to even consider.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neil_Redfern

History of New Years Day

History of New Years Day

January 1 st is considered New Years Day in today's society. But this is a fairly new concept because up until the time of Julius Caesar, the Romans celebrated the New Year in March because it was the first month in the Roman calendar. However, January 1 marked the time when the Romans changed their governmental figures and new consuls were inducted into office. And, they had games and feasting to help celebrate the new officials. But, they still used March 1 as their official mark of the new year and had a festival to their god, Mars (God of War).

It was Caesar who changed the Roman New Year's Day to January 1 in honor of Janus, (God of all beginnings and gate keeper of heaven and earth). Janus was always depicted with two faces: One looking back to the old year (past) and one looking ahead to the new year (future). One of the customs in the festival honoring Janus was to exchange gifts and then make resolutions to be friendly and good to one another.

When Constantine ruled the Romans and accepted Christianity as their new faith, they kept the Festival of Janus as the New Years Day ( Not March as before) and turned it into a day of prayer and fasting and not parties etc. It was a day for all good Christians to turn over a new leaf. However, the Romans may have accepted January 1 and Janus as the New Year, but many did not accept the turning over a new leaf, prayer and fasting part of it.

However, even in 1582, Great Britian and the English colonies in America still kept March for the beginning of the year. (Spring as a beginning?) It wasn't until 1752 that Britian (and it's colonies) adopted the new Gregorian calendar and January 1 as the beginning of the year. But many Puritans in New England felt Janus was an offensive pagan god and chose to simply ignore January 1 as a New Years Day. Instead they just made the entire month of January as "The First Month" of the months.

And, today no one really considers January 1 a fasting day. Ironically, for many it is a major day of feasting on junk food and watching football games on television.

How did New Year's Resolutions all begin?

Once again, we go back to the wild and crazy parties of the ancient Romans. :) They indulged themselves in alcoholic and sexual excess as a way of acting out all the chaos that they hoped a new year would get rid of. So, the New Year's festival was a way to start over. By purging yourself of all this so-called excess energy and confessing your sins, there was a hope that you would be much better in the next year ahead.

Now, the Puritans never did approve of all this New Year's hoopla. So of course they went for this religious renewal of cleanse, purge, fast, confess idea. So they encouraged young people not to waste the new year on foolish things but to use it as an opportunity to make a good change in their lives for the good. So, like some Christians, they made New Year's vows or pledges focused on overcoming their own weaknesses, to enhance their god-given talents and to make them better citizens to others.

The custom of making New Year's Resolutions came into vogue in the 20th century. But most of it was done with jest and an understanding that they would not be kept (for long anyway) since humans were naturally backsliders by nature to their naughty habits and ways.

The resolutions today are simply a secular version of the religious vows made in the past toward spiritual perfection. They are often made with good intentions and broken with a sense of humor and renewed annually.

Article source : http://www.cojoweb.com/new-years-eve-hist.html


From :

Our Post Graduates' Meeting

Date : 30th Dec 2009
Venue : Bestari 3
Time : 2.15 - 4.30pm
Sem. 2, Session 2009/2010
Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development, UTM, Skudai, Johor
















Our new committee for Post Grad Student Society of FPPSM

The Five Love Languages

When it comes to showing affection, you and your partner may have different ways of showing your love. Not understanding how one communicates his/her adoration for the other can cause of stress in any relationship. Therapists explain that there are five love languages that they review with their patients to help them discover their own love traits, and the traits of their mate:

Touch: Some people need to be in contact with their partner to feel loved. We respond both physically and mentally to this type of stimulation. This can be through hand-holding, massages, hugging or just sitting close enough that you can feel one another.

Acts of Service: This love language means that you show your affection by doing things for your partner, and in turn, you feel more loved when people return the favor. This could be as easy as running errands or completing chores. It is also important to understand what acts of service your partner feels show love, and which he feels are simply just things that need to get done throughout the day. For example, a husband may wash his wife's car and take out the trash, but she may feel these are just necessities. The acts of service must be done out of love, not obligation.

Quality Time: This love language is more about just being near your partner; it is about being invested. Unless both parties are paying complete attention to one another, then it does not qualify as quality time. So even if you go on a dinner date, you may not be really spending quality time with one another if you are both not fully paying attention to the other. And, quality time definitely does not include letting a wife talk about one subject while her husband watches a sports game in the same room. In a thriving relationship, quality conversation is important. Your partner may feel that love comes from being a sympathetic listener. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to solve all his problems, just that you become an active and compassionate listener.

Receiving Gifts: For some people, tangible gifts are more of an expression of love than hearing the words spoken to them. If this is the language of love for you, you may feel that not receiving gifts correlates to being loved less. But, if this is the language of your mate, then it is probably one of the easiest to comply with because it takes little effort. The gifts can be big or small, cheap or expensive. Either way, they serve as small reminders to the person that you still care.

Words: Vocally expressing your appreciation can be powerful. There are three common ways of affirming your love through the power of words. The first includes simply stating your love for the other person. The second is through compliments. For example, telling him how great he looks or praising him on a meal he made for you. The last type of affirmation is encouragement. This could be pointing out the progress your partner is making in a particular area, or telling him how proud you are of him for making a difficult decision.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=L_James

Twelve Good Thoughts

Twelve Good Thoughts

By Unknown

1. Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

2. Love is when you take away the feeling, the passion, and the romance in a relationship and find out that you still care for that person.

3. When the door of happiness closes, another opens but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.

4. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

5. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

6. There are things you'd love to hear that you would never hear from the person who you would like to hear from, but don't be so deaf as not to hear it from the one who says it from their heart.

7. Don't go for looks, they can deceive. Don't go for wealth, in the end it fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

8. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

9. A careless word may kindle strife, a cruel word may wreck a life, a timely word may level stress, a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

11. Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

12. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches..

Article Source : http://www.lifeofhope.com/12goodthoughts.htm

The Undeniable Truths Of The Workplace

The Undeniable Truths Of The Workplace

* The lowest managerial priority is customer service, but the highest priority is persecuting the workers.

* The only person who can get three days off in a week is the general manager.

* Being promoted to a supervisor is actually a demotion considering the fact that you just sold your soul.

* The arrogance level of any given member of management is inversely proportional to their intelligence quotient.

* Don't worry about management's stepping in to do workers' jobs during a strike. They can't run the place with us, so how can they run it without us?

* Don't ever get caught reading anything on the job; the management want to keep us as clueless as they are.

* All managers suffer from selective amnesia; they can only remember Union contract agreements when it benefits their cause.

* The amount of favoritism you receive from management is directly proportional to the amount of a** you kiss and inversely proportional to the quality of work you perform.

* Whenever management posts a letter of thanks to the workers, the employees will again be treated like crap within two minutes of the posting.

* The chances that an employee's idea will ever be implemented are inversely proportional to its ultimate good.

* A new supervisor who has worked for only two days is always construed to know more than workers who have worked in the company for years.

* As soon as a supervisor is promoted to a manager, an inexplicable, sudden drop of 50 IQ points will occur.

* The accountability of the workers is inversely proportional to the accountability of the supervisors and managers.

* If management accidentally discovers that an employee is smart, more work will be expected from that employee.

* Succeeding at the workplace is simply a matter of rising above everyone else's incompetence.

* The more a worker gets yelled at by a manager, the more that worker can take comfort in the fact that they are right.

* In the workplace, incompetence perpetuates itself.

* If a rule does not exist that supports the position of management, they will make one up on the spot.

* You will never get paid for any overtime or extra hours you work unless you catch the forthcoming error and report it to the same management who tried to get away with it in the first place.

* Whenever a new rule or procedure is implemented, the employees must be given either no notice or as little notice as possible.

* The greatest possible threat to any given manager is an employee who is smarter than they are.

* Whenever management comes out with a so-called "policy," it is merely an attempt on their part to circumvent a provision in the Union contract that they don't like.

* In the workplace, managerial incompetence flows from the top on down.

Article Source : http://www.amusingfacts.com/humour/humour.php?PostID=20597