History of Valentine’s Day

February 14 is celebrated as Valentine’s Day. The day to celebrate love and romance over flowers and kisses. Across the globe, couples and lovers honor their deep admiration and respect for each other by exchanging Valentine gifts, spending a cozy time together, and being in each other’s embrace.

A Fable- The Legendary St. Valentine

• One story of Valentine dates back to St. Valentine of Rome. In the sources, he is personified as a moral, romantic, and generous person who became friendly with his jailer’s daughter and wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” which remains a famous phrase associated with Valentine’s Day.
• Other sources claim that he was persecuted for performing forbidden marriages and for helping Christian refugees escape Roman violence and died on February 14. The Feast of Valentine was established in honor of Saint Valentine.

The Tales of The Wild Crazy Romans

• From February 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The Roman romantics were drunk and naked. Young women would line up for the men to hit because it was a notion that it would make them fertile. This fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which the young men drew the name of a girl. The men and women then would couple up for the duration of the festival or longer.

The Poetic Verses of Geoffrey

• There is a controversy that Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century poem, “The Parliament of Fowls," praises Valentine’s Day as a time when birds choose their mates, and love is remembered even in the cold of the winter.

Ever since the Middle Ages, Valentine’s Day is associated with feelings of romance, couple love, intimacy. Over the years, the ways of celebrating Valentine may have evolved, but the essence remains the same.

Valentine’s celebration differs from couple to couple. Some like to please their lover by shopping Valentine gifts for her or him; others like to have a candle-light dine out. Whatever your idea of romantic Valentine, ensure that your Valentine’s Day 2020 is all about sweet giggles, warm hugs, and lots of love for you and your partner.