WE CUSTOMARILY HEAR IT BEING SAID that celebrating Christmas has lost its "true" and "original" meaning, with present-day activities being much too heavily centred on materialism and commercialisation.

Now quite recently, two clerics have directed similar strictures at the manner in which Barbadians have been marking Valentine's Day, observed here and around the world just over a week ago.

Anglican Bishop of Barbados and Archbishop of the West Indies Dr John Holder observed that currently Valentine's Day was "a classic case of what was traditionally a Christian celebration being diverted and developed into something that may not be related to the original tradition and intention".

In the same vein, Dr Harold Lewis, rector of the Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, United States, told the same diocesan service: "The dozens and dozens of flowers and untold boxes of chocolate that will be presented today might well bring a little excitement and romance to relationships, but in the fullness of time they have absolutely nothing to do with love."

Both of these theologians were understandably concerned about a modern social phenomenon in which secular form was being made to overwhelm religious substance.

As a result, the purity and altruism that were the original hallmarks of major religious practices are seen as being increasingly sacrificed on the altar of commercialism.

Through the process of acculturation, interacting cultures give and take various features from one another, some negative and some positive.

Consequent upon this ongoing cultural borrowing and lending, a process accelerated by the variety and speed of modern-day means of communication, it would be exceedingly difficult and rare to find many virgin cultural practices still being observed in their truly original form and content.

As fate would have it, juxtaposed with THE NATION'S coverage of the comments by the clerics was another related report that, in its own way, represented how a further and subtle but meaningful change for the better has been taking place in Barbados with regard to celebrating Valentine's Day.

Headlined Party People Take Time to Show Love, the second report dealt with the interesting twist that our two major political parties had been giving to the non-romantic observance of the day.

Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Opposition Leader Mia Mottley described a Valentine's Day Brandon's Beach gathering as another way for her party to show members how much it cared, while Democratic Labour Party (DLP) MP Stephen Lashley said that his branch's third Valentine's Day luncheon was meant to "bring the community together with the members of the branch".

These BLP and DLP events and the rationale behind them therefore betray softer and gentler elements not usually associated with political parties and which hopefully will help to show that there is more to these organisations than love of party and politicking.