Certainly the celebrity gods, mortals and saints whom we are inviting to get inspired and have fun. But why on the Valentine’s Day? Because they are all intriguing characters that bring in their passionate love stories and have a knack for partying. Moreover, the Romans have a stake in the tradition of celebrating fertility on February 15 and Saint Valentine, a priest and a lover, is the one to whom we owe the Valentine Day name. Last but not least, some of the Greek gods are known for their patronage of love and the arts. They are all beautiful as depicted in paintings, but is that really true? So, at our party, the moral code promotes the beauty of anything in the body, mind and soul (but mostly in the eye of the beholder). Let’s check now the merits of our invitees.
Eros, forever playful and young looking, is at the top of our invitees because he personifies both the romantic and physical passion, that is sportive love. Psyche, his wife, personifies the warmth of the spiritual love and dedication. As a mortal, she went through some tough times with Aphrodite before being allowed to fulfill her love for Eros, in marriage. Why did Aphrodite get between them? Well, as the pleasure of Love goddess, she always wanted Eros in her presence and maybe she was afraid of not having him available at her whim. There was a happy ending to the ordeal with the Mother in Law though, and we will have the threesome showing up in harmony at our Valentine Masquerade Party. See, intrigue and jealousy could show their ugly heads at times, but things tend to settle for the better in the end, don’t they? Anyway, at our party we will have only goodness since we are inviting so many good gods, saints and mortals.
Next on our list is Dionysus because he’s bringing the wine. He is the son of Zeus and born out of wedlock more likely with the mortal Semele. Other sources identify his mother with the goddess Persephone though. The confusion is not strange in consideration of the many affairs that Zeus had. However, we have to reckon that nowadays we are more familiar with situations where the father is uncertain. Growing up, Dionysus learned and then taught others how to make wine, drink it and party. He is invited throughout the year to many parties also because his entourage includes a good bunch of nymphs and satyrs. If one is curious to see how they look, Dionysus is in the middle, in the company of a dressed up nymph and a satyr, the latter holding a torch and the bucket of wine we were talking about.
Next to the one with the bucket there is another one in a very involved situation. Contrary of what we may immediately think, he is not fought over by nymphs but dragged towards the cold water stream to dampen his desire. Right, all the satyrs have a horse tail, pointed ears and a puggy nose. Back to our guest, Dionysus reputation for inspiring both men and women through wine and ecstatic frenzy earned him the patron of the arts status. In a position like this, we believe that he may want that some hetairas invited as well.
Hetairas are well known for their talent of playing music and dancing, while being intelligent and beautiful (our party moral code promotes the beauty of the soul and mind, but mostly the one in the eye of the beholder.) They usually dress in expensive clothing, to be better paid for their entertaining services, but that’s OK because they’ll deduct its cost at the income tax time. Alternatively, and because they have an independent, rebel nature, they could simply decide to dress skimpy instead. It goes without saying that some dresses, the more minimal, the more expensive, but how many times a year do we have a Valentine masquerade ball, such celebration of love towards (ourselves and) each other. So far it doesn’t seem that we could recommend any costume because our invitees are rather naked. Naturally, we always start from that state before evolving towards a more mundane Valentine masquerade attire. And for that situation, any prince, princess, priest, belly dancer, entertainer of the past or present and future visibly sexy or not visibly, will do and we recommend it. Just look at our gallery for inspiration and check a collection of costume ideas under the Valentine’s Day Costumes tag. At the end of this post, see how many countries celebrate Valentine’s Day.
But we seem to have placed too much emphasis on the erotic love. Actually, at our Valentine Masquerade we will also celebrate spiritual love towards our family and friends as well. Speaking of spiritual love, let’s also commemorate Valentine’s sympathetic and romantic personality, a priest later canonized. There are various stories and claims about who he was and what he did, like in politics nowadays. But we like to believe that he indeed fought the abuse of the imprisoned people (sounds contemporary!), stance that got himself in trouble and in prison. That’s where he fell in love (oh, that one again!) with the daughter of a prison’s guard and managed to send her a “From your Valentine,” epistle and that’s what we ourselves do nowadays. Whether in appreciation of St. Valentine, Greek or Roman celebrations, the one on Valentine’s Day is yet another occasion to enjoy the essence of love as the goodness of life. This goodness is what makes Valentine’s Day a jolly celebration in the Americas of the North and South, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Denmark, Italy and Japan. Did we miss any country? Probably, sorry, please let us know if so. Have a lovely Valentine Masquerade Ball Party in the meanwhile!
