Cupid's arrow misses world

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Poor Cupid. Some spoilsports overseas are giving him a hard time.

Though Americans revel in lace-trimmed romance and good will on St.Valentine's Day, this holiday is considered a symbol of Western decadence in some countries, banned as a pagan celebration among the infidels.

While sweethearts in the West nibble chocolates and murmur sweet nothings today, Saudi Arabia's religious officials have issued a stern warning against St. Valentine's Day celebrations in any form.

"It is a pagan Christian holiday and Muslims who believe in God and Judgment Day should not celebrate or acknowledge it or congratulate people on it," the Saudi fatwa committee said yesterday in a notice published in Arab-language newspapers. "It is a duty to shun it to avoid God's anger and punishment."

The committee approves only the two Muslim holidays that mark the end of Ramadan fasting and the annual hajj pilgrimage among devout Muslims.

Everything else is "banned," the committee said.

Though the religious origins of St. Valentine's Day are often lost amid its commercial hubbub, many scholars trace the day to Roman Valentinus, a Catholic priest beheaded in the year 270 for marrying couples despite a decree from Emperor Claudius outlawing marriage. Claudius reasoned, perhaps correctly, that marriage distracted his soldiers and weakened his army.

The popular romantic custom probably sprang from beliefs in England and France during the Middle Ages that, since the 14th is midway between the beginning and end of the dreary second month, that's when birds begin to pair. Chaucer wrote: "For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day/When every foule cometh there to choose his mate."

Neither the religious nor the commercial aspect of St. Valentine's Day plays well in some spots overseas, which are not generally thought of as hotbeds of love and affection, anyway.