Yep, you heard it right. In Brazil, Valentine's Day is actually celebrated on the 12th of June, instead of the 14th of February. Why? Because, or so my 4th grade teacher Miss Young told me, there were 2 martyrs in the medieval times called Valentine. The day was supposed to honour their martyrdom and didn't really involve romantic love for a while. It was only after a few centuries, I think, that people linked the holiday with the fertility festival celebrated in February. It was something like that, my memory's a bit fuzzy.
On the other hand, Brazil, being the incredibly catholic country it is, recognizes the 13th of June as St Anthony's day. As you may know, St Anthony is regularly seen as a matchmaker, having preached about the great importance of marriage and union in his days. So the holiday on the eve of the 13th is to celebrate just that. We could even call it "St Anthony's Eve" (You know, like Christmas Eve) but that's just too long.
Anyway, I was going to post this yesterday (as the holiday was then) but I was busy all day with cooking and cleaning and watching Croatia beat Germany in the EuroCup. (Ah, the things we do...)
The picture, in case you're wondering, is of me, Piggy and Nesy. He's the guy that holds my hand.
Happy belated Brazilian Valentine's day to you all!
