Did Cupid find you this year?

What’s the deal with Cupid anyway? Why does a chubby baby get the role of making people fall in love? As with most traditions, the history is complicated and a little confusing. But because Cupid is a mystery we’ve been desiring to solve, we did the research for you. What does a flying baby have to do with Valentine’s Day?

For starters, it all began with the Greeks. In Greek mythology, the goddess of love and beauty (Aphrodite) had a son named Eros, the god of love. Eros had a set of golden, love-poisoned arrows, and with one scratch from the arrow, the god or mortal would either be filled with love or aversion, depending on which of the golden arrows Eros chose to use. Eros was quite the trickster; he once struck the god Apollo with a love-arrow while simultaneously striking Apollo’s object of desire with an aversion-arrow. Eros played with the emotions of gods and men, but it came back to bite him when he accidently nicked himself with an arrow and fell madly in love with Psyche, a beautiful woman. But that’s a story for a different day…

When the Romans assimilated the Greek culture, they renamed the Greek gods to suit their own culture. Zeus became Jupiter, Hermes became Mercury, Athena became Minerva, Aphrodite became Venus and…you guessed it…Eros became Cupid.

Cupid comes from the Roman word “cupido,” meaning desire. Cupid was originally portrayed as a strong, handsome god, but when the Renaissance painters’ began depicting innocence and love, they used winged cherubs – baby angels – to do it. Then, in the time of the Victorians, a fascination with all things cherubic caused a further transformation – arming the winged babies with bows and arrows. And that, dear readers, is why a chubby baby has the role of making people fall in love on Valentine’s Day.

And now for the specials. . . . On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we’re offering our Family Day Package until 5:30PM. For $34.95, your family will receive an hour and a half of bowling (including shoe rental), a pitcher of soda and a pizza for dinner! On Sunday Fun Day, come in to bowl from 6:00 pm until 11:00 pm for Quartermania Bowling – That’s a $6 cover charge per person and then .25 games of bowling, .25 hot dogs(plain or with ketschup), .25 sodas and .25 shoe rentals.

This Valentine’s Day, you can make your sweetheart fall in love with you all over again – without the use of Cupid’s arrows!  This Friday and Saturday we’re featuring Galactic  or Moonlight bowling from 5:30 pm – close.

See you soon…