In The News: College of Liberal Arts
On Valentine's Day, millions present flowers, chocolates and cards to their sweethearts. While the holiday's traditions really became cemented in the 1800s, historians link its roots to wild pagan revelries from before the birth of Saint Valentine himself.
The origins of Valentine’s Day are pretty obscure. While scholars generally agree that the holiday was popularized in the 1840s in the U.K. and U.S., the specific historical roots of the celebration remain ambiguous. Some say it began with the Roman pagan festival Lupercalia, a fertility festival from February 13-15 involving animal sacrifice, ritualized sex play, and general debauchery. Others point to Roman emperor Claudius II’s execution of several men named Valentine on February 14, one of whom later became a martyr in the Christian faith. Fast forward several centuries and the holiday shows up again in the Middle Ages, with Chaucer’s poem “Parliament of Fowls” (referring to the mating pattern of birds in early spring), and later in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which alludes to lucky lovers meeting on St. Valentine’s Day. But how do a pagan fertility festival, a Christian martyr, and English poetry connect with this now ubiquitous, commercialized celebration of love?
Jolene Sliwka was searching through a thrift store for vintage t-shirts and used records 35 years ago when she picked up a “scratch off and sniff” Valentine’s Day card and added it to her haul.
What is love? Scientists explain it in terms of the body’s release of adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin; cynics refute its existence by citing ancient philosophy. The Greeks had six words to describe it, whereas Merriam Webster offers a simple definition. More recently, a Hallmark card asserted that love is when you find “the sprinkled donut in a sea of glazed.”
The month of February comes again, and the crowds come again about whether Indonesians should celebrate the so-called "Valentine's Day". Regardless of the choice of dear readers, let's look at a number of facts about this world-wide Western tradition.
This is how the West is run: In the 13 westernmost U.S. states, one party controls both the executive and legislative branches.
When it comes to the Golden Age of Hollywood, Clara Bow and Rex Bell were at the very top.
Nevada hit ten straight billion-dollar months—a streak that continues to grow.
Nevada hit ten straight billion-dollar months—a streak that continues to grow.
Goodr Jasmine Crowe was pitching her startup, which works to end food waste, to an investor when she mentioned that she attended an HBCU, or a historically black college and university.
The nearly 400 UNLV freshmen in the College of Liberal Arts who were enrolled the course — an introductory class to ease their academic and social transition to college life — received a free online textbook thanks to a new program within the college.
UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute has a new executive director who’ll start on the job June 1.