February, the month of love and romance. The festival of love is celebrated during this month. 14th February is considered Valentine’s Day and celebrated across the globe. Valentine’s Day is a very significant day for all those in love. On this occasion, people try to express their love and affection towards each other. They even exchange valuable and meaningful gifts, chocolates, flowers and so on..
History of Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day celebrated during mid-February every year traces its origins back to Lupercalia, which is a Roman fertility festival. It was celebrated from 13 February to 15 February then. The day is named after a saint Valentine. As per the sources, the day marks the death anniversary of Saint Valentine who died on 14th February in 270 AD.
Back then during the festival, men would pick up names of women from a box, and they would pair as a couple through the event. By the end of the 5th century the celebration of Lupercalia was forbidden by Pope Gelasius and was combined with St Valentine’s Day.
There are nearly two stories associated with the beginning of Valentine’s Day. St Valentine was a priest who went against the emperor’s orders and secretly helped couples to get married inorder to spare the men from war. The emperor Claudius II was against the marriage of single men, as he believed that unmarried men were well dedicated. So, he ordered the beheading of the saint and the execution happened on 14th February.
It is also said that during his imprisonment, St Valentine took care of the jailor’s blind daughter and wrote a card to her mentioning ‘from your Valentine’.
After the pagan rituals were lost, St Valentine’s Day celebrations started gaining significance. Then the day became popular for love, romance and intimacy. Since then Valentine’s Day is celebrated in creative and lovely ways by greeting & gifting each other and spending precious time with the beloved ones.
However, the proofs related to Valentine’s Day are not accurate. Even St Valentine is a character in ‘Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer. Hence the facts related to Valentine’s Day are fascinating, yet hard to believe.
