Holidays are very much about their symbols. Valentines is no different. Red and Pink Hearts, kisses, roses, candy and Cupid. Cupid is a timeless symbol of Valentines, with his cherub face and arrows to pierce the hearts of star crossed lovers. While the symbol of Cupid is readily associated with Valentines, few know the real story.
Cupid is the winged child of Venus - the Roman goddess of love. Jealous of Psyche, a beautiful mortal, Venus ordered Cupid to shoot her with one of his arrows and kill her. Instead he fell madly in love with her and married her. As a mortal Psyche was forbidden to look at Cupid and everything was fine between the two until Psyche's sisters convinced her to look at him. To punish her, Cupid left and their beautiful and mythical castle vanished.
While wandering seeking her lost love, Psyche stumbled upon a Temple to Venus and Venus, being vengeful and wanting Psyche dead gave her a series of tasks - created to lead to ultimate demise.
Psyche was sent to the underworld to capture the beauty of Pluto's wife. When she opened the small box Venus had given her, she does not find beauty, but finds deadly slumber.
Cupid comes upon his wife's lifeless body and gathers from her the deadly slumber and replaces it in the box. The Gods then decide to make Psyche a Goddess.
Now, two hearts pierced by an arrow - have come to symbolize the romantic love which we celebrate on Valentine's Day.
In Greek mythology the tale of Eros is much the same. He falls in love with the beautiful mortal Psyche but forbids her to see him, making her extinguish all the lamps in her chamber when he visits. When she dares to look at him while he is sleeping, she spills a drop of lamp oil upon him and in anger at her disobedience he leaves her. The distraught Psyche wonders the earth seeking her beloved. In the end Zeus takes pity on her and reunited them.
In Greek mythology Eros is also said to be responsible for the embrace of Uranus (the Heaven or Sky) and Gaia (the Earth.)
Regardless of the legend - Cupid and Eros - the winged cherub is a mainstay of Valentines Days and a symbol of the joining of two hearts in love.
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