Everyone in the present world is under the spell of
celebrating Valentine's Day. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards and
gift tokens, holding a bow and arrows, as he is believed to use his
magical arrows to arouse feelings of love. All are aware of cupid as God
of Love, but hardly one is aware how he came to be associated with
Valentine's Day. Cupid has been playing a dominant role in the fiesta of
love and lovers, since a long time. He is regarded as the God of Love,
who is a mischievous, winged child, whose arrows pierce the hearts of
his victims, causing them to fall deeply in love.
Story behind Valentines Day Cupid
According to the ancient Greece, cupid was known as initially known as
Eros. He was the young son of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
On the other hand, Romans regarded him as cupid only, the son of Venus.
One legend surrounding the naughty kid revolves around cupid and the
mortal maiden, Psyche. Venus was jealous of the beauty of Psyche, and
ordered Cupid to punish her. Instead of following her mother's
instructions, cupid fell deeply in love with her. He took her as his
wife, but as a mortal she was prohibited to look at him. Psyche was
happy until her sisters persuaded her to look at cupid.
The moment she did, cupid punished her by desertion. Their lovely castle
and gardens went astray because of his desertion and Psyche found
herself alone, in an open field. Psyche wandered to find her love and
came upon the temple of Venus. Wishing to raze her, the Goddess of Love
gave Psyche a series of tasks, each harder and dangerous than the
preceding. The last task assigned to Psyche was that she was to take a
small box from Venus and take it to the underworld.
She had to get some of the beauty of Proserpine, the wife of Pluto, and
put it in the box. Psyche was given some tips to avoid the dangers
during her trip to the realm of the dead and also warned not to open the
box. However, temptation overcame Psyche and she opened the box. Instead
of finding beauty, she found deadly slumber inside. Cupid found her
lifeless on the ground. He gathered the sleep from her body and put it
back in the box. After this, cupid forgave her, as did Venus. The gods,
moved by Psyche's love for Cupid, made her a Goddess.
