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Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit muddled.
現代情人節(jié)意味著浪漫、愛情和海誓山盟。然而，這個充滿甜蜜和愛情的節(jié)日來歷，卻很黑暗、血腥——還有點混亂。
Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting them.
盡管沒有節(jié)日起源的確切說法，最可能源自古羅馬，那里的男人碰上女人，嗯，打上女人。
Those Wild and Crazy Romans
野蠻瘋狂的羅馬人
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.
從2月13日到15日，羅馬人舉辦路盆卡利亞狂歡節(jié)。男人們要宰殺一只山羊和一條狗，獻作犧牲，然后剝下獸皮鞭打女人。
The Roman romantics “were drunk. They were naked,” says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.
羅馬人的浪漫是“醉醺醺，赤裸裸”，歷史學家諾爾.棱斯基說。他來自波爾德的科羅拉多大學。棱斯基說，女人們排隊讓男人們打。他們認為這樣做，女人更能生育。
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival – or longer, if the match was right.
殘酷狂歡節(jié)日還有抽獎活動，年輕男子從罐子里抽取女人的名字。然后配對，嗯，至少在節(jié)日里配對——如果對上眼，配對的時間要長一些。
The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.
古羅馬人還給現代“愛情”提供名字。公元3世紀，克勞迪斯二世皇帝在不同的年份，都是2月14日，分別處死了叫瓦倫汀的人。天主教會為紀念他們的殉難，建立了圣瓦倫汀節(jié)。
Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, “It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn’t stop it from being a day of fertility and love.”
不久后，到了5世紀，教皇格拉西斯一世本想驅除異教徒的活動，將圣瓦倫汀節(jié)和路盆卡利亞節(jié)合并，實則添亂。這個節(jié)日比以前更加夸張。棱斯基說：“比醉醺醺的狂歡好一點，基督徒們穿上了衣服。然而，關于生育和愛的節(jié)日，并沒有改變。”
Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin’s Day. Galatin meant “l(fā)over of women.” That was likely confused with St. Valentine’s Day at some point, in part because they sound alike.
差不多同時，諾曼人慶祝咖蘭汀節(jié)。咖蘭汀的意思是“女人的情人”。 因為發(fā)音有點象，在某種程度上，可能與圣瓦倫汀節(jié)混淆了。
Shakespeare In Love
愛情里的莎士比亞
As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages.
時光流逝，這節(jié)日變得甜蜜了。喬叟和莎士比亞在作品里，都進行了美化，這節(jié)日在英國和歐洲其他地方流行開了。中世紀的時候，手工制作的卡片成了節(jié)日的象征。
Eventually, the tradition made its way to the New World. The industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th century. And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing valentines. February has not been the same since.
最后，這個傳統(tǒng)流傳到了新世界。19世紀，工業(yè)革命開啟了批量生產的大門。到了1913年，密蘇里州堪薩斯城的賀氏公司開始批量制作情人節(jié)賀卡。2月份從此不一樣了。
Today, the holiday is big business: According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine’s Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year’s sales are expected to total $18.6 billion.
現在，情人節(jié)是大買賣：根據IBIS世界公司的市場調查，去年情人節(jié)的銷售額達到176億美元；今年有望達到186億美元。
But that commercialization has spoiled the day for many. Helen Fisher, a sociologist at Rutgers University, says we have only ourselves to blame.
但商業(yè)化很大程度上破壞了這個節(jié)日。盧杰斯大學的社會學家海倫.費雪說，這只能怪我們自己。
“This isn’t a command performance,” she says. “If people didn’t want to buy Hallmark cards, they would not be bought, and Hallmark would go out of business.”
“這不是必須的儀式，”她說，“如果人們不想買，就不用買，賀氏公司就關門了。”
And so the celebration of Valentine’s Day goes on, in varied ways. Many will break the bank buying jewelry and flowers for their beloveds. Others will celebrate in a SAD (that’s Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted chocolates. A few may even be spending this day the same way the early Romans did. But let’s not go there.
情人節(jié)的各項慶祝活動照常進行。許多人為了心愛的人，會傾囊購買珠寶盒鮮花。有些人想到自己形單影只，黯然神傷，獨自吃飯，獨自消受自己買的一堆巧克力。一小撮人的過節(jié)方式，甚至會像早期羅馬人那樣。但我們還是離得遠一些吧。
