Valentine’s Day is Really St. Trifon’s Day

Yesterday allegedly was Valentine’s Day, or so the good people at Hallmark Greeting Cards maintain. For those in happy romances, it is a day to celebrate. For those still seeking one, it can be hard to bear. In the case of the latter, it might be comforting to know that in Bulgaria, at least, yesterday belonged not to St. Valentine but to St. Trifon the Pruner.

As usual with days involving saints, there is more to this than meets the eye. St. Trifon’s Day is February 1, but that is according to the Julian calendar. This was slightly too long, which caused the vernal equinox and therefore the date of Easter to drift through the calendar as the centuries piled up. So when Pope Gregory XIII reformed it in 1582, the world got rid of the Julian calendar and replaced it with the Gregorian calendar and had to move the date forward.

Naturally, nothing could be quite so straightforward. The Catholic and Orthodox franchises of Christianity split in 1054. So, when Greg 13 (an uninspired screen-name to be sure) changed the calendar, the Orthodox countries like Bulgaria didn’t bother changing. This only occurred much later. It is for this reason that the Great October Revolution that created the Soviet Union was celebrated on November 7, when the Reds came in, they fixed the calendar. Thus, February 1 became February 14. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church adopted what is called the revised Julian Calendar, which is more or less the same as the Gregorian version (or will be until 2,800).

According to the Sofia Echo, “Trifon Zarezan (Trifon the Pruner’s Day) is the day on which wine makers, vine growers, market gardeners and tavern keepers celebrate. And to add to the usual division among Bulgarians, this unique holiday has two dates – February 1 (according to the Gregorian calendar) when the Orthodox Church celebrates it, and February 14 when Bulgarians that are not in love find it suitable to have a drink or two. Just for the record, St. Trifon lived in the third century and was believed to have had the divine power to cure any sickness. He was tortured to death and decapitated for his Christian faith.”

So, for those who felt left out yesterday, this journal sends this belated Trifon (which sounds so much better than Valentine): “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow the same idiots will be in charge.”

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home