Valentine Alert: get the Lingerie size right, Guys or you’re sleeping in the Dog House!

Only a few days to go till the Valentine madness gets into full swing. Starting this weekend, restaurants and hotels are offering Valentine Menus and Romantic Breaks which will be hosted over the coming 10 days. Hard to believe it but the roots of Valentine’s Day can be traced back to the most innocuous beginnings such as fertility, religion, illness, persecution and martyrdom! Romance, be damned!

One thing I will warn of: Lads, if you’re truly a Valentine 'Smuck', and heading into a lingerie shop to buy some exquisite lacy bits for your loved one, here are two useful tips for you:

•  Don’t buy her lingerie a size too small– she will assume you think this is the size she SHOULD be…
•  Do not buy a size too big either– same difference, she will think you are implying she has gained weight…

Your best bet is to take one of her ‘hotter’ underwear sets and bring it with you into the shop. Otherwise, you will have a very damp and lonely Valentine’s night – in the dog house or spare room!

Despite its popularity across the modern world, it is not an official holiday in any country or culture. So why has this day which espouses Cupids, red velvet hearts, roses and rich chocolates become an international phenomenon?

God only knows… and religion or paganism is most definitely at the root of Valentine’s Day, Tuesday next, February 14.

Can the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15 be the first real links to Valentine’s Day (when lingerie and saucy underwear are top of the ‘must-buy’ gift-wear?). In ancient times, couples danced naked around an open fire, as partners selected each other on February 15 to em, ‘do the business’.

It was 496AD before Pope Gelasius I declared February 14 as a Christian feast day. St Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is thought to honour one or more early saints named ‘Valentinus’ and depending on what encyclopaedia you read, the legends vary.

One is of an imprisoned saint named Valentine who sent messages out via doves and hence the love letters and notes associated with the modern celebration of the day.

Another article alleges Saint Valentine of Rome was imprisoned for performing weddings to soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire.

He reputedly healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. For all the good it did him, poor Valentine was still executed for his Christian beliefs but before his execution, he sent a letter to the saved maiden and signed it ‘Your Valentine’.

Is this where the tradition of posting Valentine cards began? Or does it emanate from the 14th to 18th centuries when romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer was promoted, and therein began the tradition of ‘courtly love’. Or does it stem from 18th-century England, when the occasion inspired lovers to send flowers to each other, along with confectionery and greeting cards?

Other connections through history saw Valentine gifts given to children to ward off epilepsy which was also known as 'St Valentine’s Malady'. St Valentine’s Keys were also given to a chosen lover, as an invitation for the latter to unlock his/her heart.

February 14 is an official feast day in the Anglican Community and in the Lutheran Church but how that connects with the OTT ‘plastic’ celebration of today’s St Valentine’s Day, don’t ask me!

Enjoy the day, be bold, be brave. Treat each other to a visit to a Spa, a romantic weekend away, hand made chocolates, a good wine and a fragrant candle can do as much for your Valentine night as dancing around a bonfire in ancient Rome for the feast of Lupercalia.

But don’t get the lingerie size wrong, Guys! And Ladies, we've had it all our own way on the Gift Train - be good to the special man in your life and splash out on a generous gift or treat for him. And the same applies for a woman buying for another woman or a man buying for his male partner - make it a special Valentine celebration and you'll both reap the rewards!