As I turned my new edition of the Kauai Island Utilities Cooperative calendar for February, I smiled at the “Year of the Monkey” artwork that won a place in the calendar contest for Brynn Lee Hirata, a second-grader at Kalaheo
As I turned my new edition of the Kauai Island Utilities Cooperative calendar for February, I smiled at the “Year of the Monkey” artwork that won a place in the calendar contest for Brynn Lee Hirata, a second-grader at Kalaheo Elementary. It vibrates with variegated spots and dots to celebrate Brynn’s creative “Happy New Year” design rendered in red, pink and lavender pointillism for Chinese New Year, Feb. 8. My eyes skimmed further to the month’s listings of holidays.
Valentine’s Day sneaks up on us this coming weekend, preceding the official “Presidents’ Day” Monday holiday which lumps together the Feb. 12 birthday of President Lincoln with that of President Washington (even though we have to wait another week until good old George’s Feb. 22 actual date). Red and pink hearts have migrated from the American Heart Association’s logo. They’re once again proliferating in store decorations, card racks and end displays, commercials and ads, balloons and so forth as the modern “Hallmark holiday” approaches.
The Feb. 14 celebration has come a long way from its origins. If you’re interested, you can read information on St. Valentine’s Day in books or on the Internet. An article that sums up how a religious martyr’s actions trans- formed into a romanticized version, thanks to Chaucer in the Middle Ages, is published on Wikipedia. This includes how, in England in the 1700s, the custom developed whereby “lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending greeting cards (known as ‘Valentines’).”
The most often displayed graphic symbol with its bowed top curving down plumply to taper into a point is now recognized almost world-wide. Like the real human heart, it can be shown in its stylized form whole and vibrant, and doubled with a cupid’s arrow piercing both, or split/cracked and, at times, dripping tears. And then, again — with time — healed and ready to beat well in the service of love, or the pursuit of it, once again. Winged cupids, keys and doves are also associated romantic symbols.
Many of us can identify with all of the emotions associated with the previous descriptions of heart symbols, from their heights to their rock-bottoms. The condition of the human heart “in love” is what Valentine’s Day is all about — or was, originally, before it blossomed into extreme commerciality. Now hearts in full vibrancy depicting love shared in a form that is not brotherly or spiritual, seem always to pair with flowers, chocolates and sweet treats, art and love letters and passionate poetry. And let’s not forget dance and music.
Our doctors and personal trainers would probably jump in glee to learn we may decide to skip the chocolates and “sweeties,” opting for sharing in different ways. (Not our local shops, though.) Maybe an experiential shared time.
I remember what fun I had with this on my first February in the United States, exchanging funny Valentines, punching out Minnie and Mickey Mouse cards and other “goofy” ones and signing one for each classmate to drop in an art-project mailbox in the classroom. Our fifth-grade teacher added on a “party” consisting of paper cups of Dole pineapple juice and some cookies. My children, too, enjoyed the custom of sharing Valentines starting in grade school. Now, I believe such protocol is erased from the school classroom. (Besides, how could we ever have met the “standards”?) My 8-year-old granddaughter assures me, too, that it can only be “healthy” snacks when a birthday or other permissible occasion warrants a classroom celebration.
How about love letters? Remember when people actually wrote letters and expressed themselves in carefully chosen words? This meant missives sent on stationery — sometimes scented — that could be read and re-read, cherished by the recipient, and perhaps bound with other letters from the beloved tied with ribbon and kept in a private drawer or box. (The key symbol might have figured here, if lock-able.) Such is dwelt upon within many a classic piece of literature or family tale.
Art? There’s much of that around, from the great masters and more, to do with emotions of the heart. Our public libraries abound with oversized books of such, for browsing. One art book I often enjoy browsing at home is entitled “Art and Love,” a treasured gift inscribed by one of my husband’s extended family members, now deceased.
Poetry? Song? Mele? I’m sure we all have your favorites, for again, there’s an abundance of such from all ages and for the varying preferences of different peoples and generations, also — and they’re usually not condensed (“subjugated”?) into text messages. A condensed love statement which contains resonance beyond first reading is an old Japanese proverb, “Who travels for love finds a thousand miles not longer than one.” Perhaps visitors who have “fallen” for our Garden Island will think of this in actual miles, rather than symbolic miles.
There’s so very much and varied music available on Kauai, just check out any media calendar, “TGIFriday,” or club/restaurant listings.
A reminder, here, that on the 14th morn, the KCC Band and Orchestra will be playing for the fund-raising culinary breakfast on the college grounds. You might consider attending this or another event with your special person, to give them an experiential Valentine. Something to remember well (along with writing them that love letter or poem, and/or whispering sweet nothings while perhaps dancing your private tango).
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Dawn Fraser Kawahara, author and poet, regularly instructs on the topics of history and Hawaiian culture for visitors to Kauai through Hawaii Pacific University’s “Road Scholar” program through Pacific Islands Institute. The writer’s “Memoir II,” focused on childhood days in post-WWII Burma and travels searching for her long-missing father, is due to be published this year through TropicBird Press www.kauaiweddingsandbooks.com as part of DAWN Enterprises.
