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- Valentine's Day
- The History of Valentine's Day !
Valentine's Day is
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and Happy Valentine!
Valentine's Day Videos
Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14.
It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for
each other; sending Valentine's cards, candy, or donations to
charities, often anonymously. It is very common to present flowers
on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both
Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with
romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly
love flourished.
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love
notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include
the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since
the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to
mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association
estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each
year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending
holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that
women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
In the United States, the marketing of Valentine's Day has tagged it
as a "Hallmark holiday".
Source : Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are
exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But
who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday?
The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is
shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a
month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains
vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was
Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient
rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different
saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
 One
legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the
third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single
men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he
outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers.
Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius
and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When
Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put
to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for
attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they
were often beaten and tortured.
According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first
'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that
Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his
jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before
his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed
'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today.
Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the
stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic,
and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the
Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England
and France.
While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the
middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's
death or burial -- which probably occurred around 270 A.D -- others
claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate
Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize'
celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome,
February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a
time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping
them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt
throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of
February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus,
the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders
Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman
priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus
and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared
for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat,
for fertility, and a dog, for purification.
 The
boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the
sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both
women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Far from being
fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because
it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the
coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young
women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's
bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become
paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended
in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day
around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was
deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, during the Middle Ages, it
was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the
beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the
middle of February -- Valentine's Day -- should be a day for
romance. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a
poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was
imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the
Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is
part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London,
England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired
a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine
of Valois.
In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated
around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth
century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes
to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the
end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters
due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an
easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct
expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates
also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending
Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging
hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A.
Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.
 According
to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine
cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest
card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards
are sent for Christmas.)
Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by
women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is
celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and
Australia.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages
(written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and
the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum.
The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the
U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known
as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real
lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap".
Source: history.com
Revised: 01/31/07.
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