Put away those mobile phones and just fall in love – that appears to be the message in the latest animated doodle to come from Google to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The animated doodle shows the two letter Os from the Google wording as individuals whose hearts have been broken and whose love has been unrequited through the medium of mobile devices (maybe they were using Tinder?).
Eventually once their gaze has been averted from the shiny little screens their eyes lock, they kiss and they are all of a sudden very loved up.
Across the world today couples will be no doubt celebrating Valentine’s Day and doing all kinds of romantic things (what’s wrong with the other 364 days of the year, we wonder).
Your Valentine …
To most sceptics it’s merely a holiday that has been hijacked by Hallmark, Marks & Spencer, countless florists, getaway destinations and anybody else who can make a shilling from the sudden explosion in romance.
The day is a celebration of the Feast of St Valentine, a clergyman who was persecuted by the Roman Empire for ministering to Christians and soldiers who were forbidden to marry. As the legend goes, during his imprisonment he healed the daughter of his jailor and he wrote her a farewell letter signed “Your Valentine.”
According to legend, in order ‘to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment’, giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine’s Day.
His celebrity was redeemed in the romantic poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love flourished and by the 18th century in England 14 February was celebrated as a day when lovers expressed their love through flowers and sweets.
Relics of St Valentine exist in churches in various parts of the world including the Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, his skull sits in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Rome while other relics of St Valentine can be found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland (pictured right).
Valentine’s Day image at top via Shutterstock
