What's Up?：Many Valentine's, Many Loves

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　■香港各大型商場增添浪漫布置，成為情侶在情人節的最佳拍照場所。 資料圖片

These few days, we're embraced by two great days of love! Two days ago, it was Valentine's Day, originated in the West; and tomorrow, it will be the Lantern Festival of the Chinese.

Several Valentine's

We should all be quite familiar with Valentine's Day, which falls on February 14 every year in the Western solar calendar. It was meant to be for lovers, but nowadays people celebrate friendship and familial love too.

How about the Lantern Festival? It falls on the fifteenth day of the first month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and its Chinese name is Yuan Xiao Festival. At least here in Hong Kong, as well as some parts of China, it is now regarded as a Chinese version of the Valentine's Day. But note that when we talk about the Chinese Valentine's Day, what we usually have in mind is the Qixi Festival (literally means 'The Night of Sevens'), as it is on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese calendar. Oh, and these days we're told about the so-called Japanese Valentine's Day on March 14.Therefore, we celebrate (at least) four Valentine's.

We always talk about love, but what exactly is it? And are there different kinds of love? A classic that treats this important topic is The Four Loves, written by the famous Irish-born British academic, novelist and lay theologian C S Lewis (1898-1963), who is most famous for being the author of the children's novels The Chronicles of Narnia.

Four Loves

What are the four kinds of love that Lewis talks about? They're affection, friendship, eros and charity. Affection, which is characterised by the feeling of liking and the willingness to care, is best demonstrated by a mother (whether a human or an animal) nursing (= caring for) her young.

As for friendship, Lewis observes that many people now regard it as the least important kind of love. Nowadays, many of us treat friends as somebody to just 'fill in the chinks (= narrow gaps)', whereas they should be treated as the 'main course of life's banquet' (= the most important dish in the feast of life).

Eros is romantic love. Though eros reminds us of the word 'erotic' (= sexual), the sentiment (= feeling) of eros should be much more than just sex. Eros, according to Lewis, is 'uniquely human', i.e., only human beings can have this kind of love.

Charity, the sentiment that calls upon us to love everybody, every creature, is the highest kind of love, since it is universal, and does not differentiate or discriminate.

Love's Philosophy

Love poems often concentrates on eros and romantic love. But sometimes the writer's heart is so great that he or she may exalt (= praise highly) charity and universal love. An example is the poem Love's Philosophy by the great English romantic poet Percy Shelley (1792-1822). The first stanza (= verse) is: "The fountains mingle with the river / And the rivers with the ocean, / The winds of Heaven mix for ever / With a sweet emotion; / Nothing in the world is single, / All things by a law divine / In one spirit meet and mingle - / Why not I with thine?" These words essentially means: All things in the universe is mixed as one, so you and I can also be the same! Happy Western and Chinese Valentine's, dear readers!

Questions

1. In tennis, what score is 'love'?

2. Is Eros the god of love in Greek or Roman mythology?

3. Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley's wife, wrote a famous novel. What is its name?

Answers

1. Zero.

2. Greek.

3. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.　■MT Ness