Community Love?

[TriciaLawrence]

Love is in the air!  It's almost Valentine's Day here in the USA!  Does your country celebrate Feb 14th?  Anyone know where this tradition came from?

And what do you love about the Adobe Community?    Do you love being helped or helping - or both!  Share your Adobe Community love story in pictures or words inside or outside the forums!

[KShinabery212]

Where did Valentine's Day Come From? (Answer from Wikipedia):

St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14, and added to later martyrologies.^[2] A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.^[3] Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion,^[4] as well as in the Lutheran Church.^[5] Some part, but not all of the Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6 and July 30, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). In Greek Orthodox Church and other Churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, no Saint Valentine exists, nor venerated.

The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). In Europe, Saint Valentine's Keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart", as well as to children, in order to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady).^[6] Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.^[7]

^{What do I love about Adobe Forums?}

^{Sharing, connecting with others and helping people find solutions!  That is also why I manage the Behance Events here in NRW.  It is always great helping others or seeing others connect at an event (which can lead to amazing collaborations).} 

^{My Personal Manta For Valentine's Day:}

^{Happy Wife Happy Life.  One time I got up super early and hung up cut out hears on the path my wife would walk to the subway.  This started from our apartment for a 20 minute walk to the subway!  I did this one other time with Birthday Cake Illustrations!!!!  To me being a creative allows you to express yourself in clever and unique ways.  So why not on Valentine's Day show your loved ones that you care about them by doing something creative!  Have fun.... a smile goes a long way and going that extra mile really can make the difference!  So have fun this Valentine's Day.... get creative and surprise them by putting your talents to use talents to show them you care!!!!!}

[MadisonLeupp]

Kenneth- I love this!! "a smile goes a long way and going that extra mile really can make the difference!" I SO agree- everyone should smile more

What I love? I just love getting to know everyone here in this community! It's amazing to hear your unique stories and (I know it's 2016 so I shouldn't be too shocked at this aspect of technology but) I love that we're all located all over the world, but we have this one place to chat and share info & ideas. It sure makes everyone feel a lot closer and adds so much to the whole experience for me!

[floramc]

This is the first year in my life since I was 13 that I do not have a valentine right here to spend my day with. But it does not really matter because there is always a friend in our community who's willing to keep my mind filled with thoughts around the tools. And in the end I am really married with photoshop so I believe my valentine day will be the day you will see me around the photoshop questions, who knows?

[Peter Villevoye]

I think it's a typically sign of the times, to have such festivities spread all over the world. This has only begun the last two decades, probably stimulated by the massive increase of all global communication.

As with many other festivities, Dutch merchants are very happy to embrace Valentine Day, just to have another month of usually 'slow' business cranked up with some action. By now, they have almost every month covered with something. New Year, Spring, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Back to School, etcetera. So we see everyone, from shoe shops and bagel lunchrooms to smartphone manufacturers and font resellers, chiming in with every monthly hype. They also recently and eagerly added phenomenas like Black Friday and Halloween to their calendars of annual sales opportunities. Now if only those Americans could drop that turkey and those prayers, we might also engage in an animal-friendly and less religious Thanksgiving Day...

Strangely enough, Dutch Christmas used to be a holiday without presents (that's what we used to have our St. Nicolas Eve & Day for, on the 5th & 6th of December). But most shops and retailers are very eager and happy to replace that centuries old tradition (with infamous Black Petes and all) with a more international presents-giving ambiance of Christmas.

Back to Valentine: yes, it will be celebrated here in the Netherlands, but not too fanatic. It's an opportunity for those who can put it to their use (retailers, lovers, stalkers...) but it's no big deal to just carry on with your daily life on a regular Sunday. So just like @Floramc, I'll probably be spreading some "love" in the Adobe forums...