The Feast of St Valentine
Following unlucky friday the thirteenth, we move straight into Valentine’s Day. I watched university challenge this morning, and there was a bonus set on Christian Quarter Days. I’ve often said the UK calendar needs more festivals, particularly between Easter and Halloween. Bring back Beltane. We need more ritual in the modern world.
I don’t think this is necessarily a need to bring back the religious elements, though I suppose most of these holidays were religious in origin. But it is a valauble thing to have a historic continuity, an occasion for celebration, to mark the passage of time in a communal way rather than just birthdays or personal anniversaries. Our declining native holidays in the modern day contributes to;
A lack of cultural identity; particularly as we import more and more Americanisms like Black Friday.
A lack of connection with the local community; particularly as we spend more time socialising over social media or any distance-agnostic tech.
If we don’t feel connected to our wider community, to our land, to our heritage, why would we fight to better it? There’s a distinct lack of ’third space’ in the modern world, a side-effect of the decline of religiosity in the population. Individualism thrives in these conditions. It saddens me to see that communal celebration, such an integral facet of being human for almost all of human history, appears to take a backseat for commercialism.
There’s an intrinsic value in experiencing festivities that reach back hundreds of years. Aside from the general feel-good factor, they inspire great art, poetry, music, bring history to the forefront of the public consciousness, stoke intracommunity relationships… yet without an intrinsic commercial value (see what’s happened to Valentine’s Day), there appears to be little room for them in the 21st century.
Yet without that sense of community, apetite for projects that better the community is low. Without pride in local surroundings, people are disinclined to look after them. Without a shared sense of belonging in the wider world, people do not trust nor engage with their wider world.
Whilst I am not suggesting ‘more holidays’ is the sole solution to an increasingly fractured and individualistic modern Britain, I certainly think that we underestimate and underutilise the role historic holidays have played in creating a functioning, thriving society.
On an individual level, I also think without religious institutions in the daily life, many yearn for a philosophical comforting. Ritual has always played a pivitol role in establishing structure and predictability in times of stress and strife. We are bombarded with more information now than at any other point in human history, whilst simultaneously are more disconnected from traditional comforts such as faith. Perhaps a little more ritual and tradition could bridge this gap?
— Frost