PADLOCKS OF LOVE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
By: Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger Photographer: George Whylie Videographer: Maxine NolanLove is in the air and Cupid is getting ready to strike. February 15, 2013 is the day to celebrate your sweetheart, the love of your life, the person of your dreams.
People are beginning to give the gift of love in a wildly different manner this year. ‘Love Padlocks’ are taking over the world. Love is being locked up in Prague, Cologne, Seoul, Moscow, Paris and now the United States. Has romanticism gone too far?
Lovers engrave their initials on a lock, affix it to a picturesque setting and then the key is thrown away so that it becomes a symbol of “love for a lifetime” or “everlasting love”.
This crazy custom is not as new as you might be led to believe but it has only just begun to spread far and wide. It began in the early 2000’s and in Rome it is attributed to the book, ‘I Want You’ by Italian author Frederico Moccia. It later was adapted to the big screen in a movie version.
These love locks have been spotted on various landmarks across the world from bridges to public structures. It is a means to shout it out to the world.
In some countries, the love padlocks have been linked to superstition. In Taiwan, padlocks are affixed in pairs to an overpass at the city’s train station and known as ‘wish locks’. The magnetic field generated by trains passing underneath will cause energy to accumulate in the locks and fulfill wishes. In Uruguay, if the love padlocks are locked on to the fountain with the lovers’ initials, they will return together to the fountain and their declared love will be forever locked.
Love has so many different meanings to each of us. We give of our hearts and our souls in different and special ways. Do you think that ‘love padlocks’ are the answer to an enduring love?
PHOTO CREDITS: Google Images
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